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TRAINING   FOR  SPORTS 


BOOKS  ON  SPORT 

Each  12mo  Profusely  illustrated 


TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS. 
ATHLETES  ALL. 
By  Walter  Camp. 

BASKET  BALL.     A  Handbook   for   Coaches   and 
Players. 
By  C.  D.  Wardlaw  and  W.  R.  Morrison. 

BASKET  BALL  AND  INDOOR  BASEBALL  FOR 
WOMEN. 
By  Helen  Frost  and  C.  D.  Wardlaw. 

BASEBALL.    Individual  Play  and  Team  Play  in 
Detail. 
By  W.  J.  Clarke  and  F.  T.  Dawson. 

ATHLETIC  TRAINING. 
By  Michael  C.  Murphy. 

CAMP  CRAFT.   Modern  Practice  and  Equipment. 
By  W.  H.  Miller. 


CHARLES   SCRIBNER'S   SONS 


From  a  photograph  copyrighted  by  "  International.' 


From  a  photograph  by  "  International." 

BLOCKING  AND  STARTING  PRACTICE. 


SCHOOL,  COLLEGE,  AND  SERVICE  ATHLETICS 


TRAINING  /or  SPORTS 


BY 

WALTER  CAMP 


ILLUSTRATED 


NEW  YORK 

CHARLES   SCRIBNER'S   SONS 
1921 


COPTRIOHT.  10S1,  BT 

CHARLES  SCRIBNEB'S  SONS 


Published  February,  1921 


To 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  E.  T.  Stotesbury 

in  recognition 

of  their  work  for  the  boys 
in  the  Service 


PREFACE 

No  country  in  the  world  has  carried  the  art 
of  training  athletes  to  anything  like  the  degree 
of  perfection  attained  in  the  United  States. 
It  has  become  the  recognized  profession  of 
hundreds  of  men  like  the  late  lamented  Mike 
Murphy,  who  carried  it  to  an  exceptional  de- 
gree of  success.  The  victories  of  our  teams  in 
the  Olympic  games  bear  tribute  to  the  skill  of 
the  men  who  have  specialized  in  this  work. 
At  the  time  of  the  World  War,  men  of  this 
profession  volunteered,  were  commissioned  and 
succeeded  in  effecting  the  greatest  improve- 
ment in  the  condition  of  the  fliers  on  some 
forty  aviation  fields.  The  author  of  this  book 
has  known  most  of  our  best  men  in  this  branch 
and  would  unhesitatingly  intrust  his  son  to 
these  men,  not  alone  for  his  physical  training, 
but  for  the  moral  effect  as  well.  Many  a  boy 
in  this  country,  however,  may  not  be  so  situ- 
ated as  to  have  the  oversight  and  advice  of  one 
of  these  experienced  men.  Many  a  coach  or 
director  may  not  have  the  opportunities  for 

vii 


viii  PREFACE 

studying  these  metihods  through  first  hand. 
Hence  this  book  is  written  to  help  on  the  way 
and  to  give  some  idea  of  the  principles  involved 
in  the  conditioning  of  athletes.  As  one  would 
say  of  the  doctor — so  I  would  say  of  the 
trainer — if  you  can  get  a  good  one,  go  to  him 
at  once — if  you  cannot,  then  you  may  find  in 
the  columns  of  this  book  some  "  first  aid  " 
suggestions  that  will  save  your  men  from 
disaster. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.     GENERAL  PHYSICAL  CONDITION  .        .  3 

II.     GENERAL  TRAINING  ACCORDING  TO  AGE  11 

III.  WHY  ATHLETES  Go  STALE  ...  24 

IV.  MENTAL  AND  NERVOUS  CONDITION        .  38 
V.     TAKING  CARE  OF  INJURIES  ...  52 

VI.     DIET 68 

VII.     SLEEP     .     • 81 

VIII.     EXERCISE     AS     DISTINGUISHED     FROM 

PRACTICE 95 

IX.  EFFECT  OF  DRIVING  BOYS  TOO  YOUNG 
AND  THE  EFFECT  OF  AGE  ON  CON- 
DITION    104 

X.     STORING  UP  ENERGY      .        .        .        .114 

XI.     SPECIALIZED  TRAINING  FOR  FOOTBALL  126 

XII.     SPECIALIZED  TRAINING  FOR  BASEBALL  136 

XIII.  SPECIALIZED     TRAINING     FOR     TRACK 

ATHLETICS 148 

XIV.  SPECIALIZED  TRAINING  FOR  ROWING    .  163 

APPENDIX.     THE  DAILY  DOZEN  SET-UP  .        .175 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

Blocking  and  Starting  Practice       .        .       Frontispiece 

facing  page 

Battling  Nelson 96 

Hammer  Thrower 96 

Two  Photographs  of  Football  Players  .        .        .       96 

Practice  in  Interference 134 

Sliding  to  Third— Prep-School  Game     .        .        .146 
Sliding  to  Third— College  Game     .        .        .        .146 

Start  of  a  100- Yard  Dash 152 

Finish  of  a  100- Yard  Dash 152 

Work  in  Rowing  Tank       .        .        .        .        .        .166 

Crew  on  the  Water 166 

The  Daily  Dozen  Set-up — Between  pages  178  and  179 


TRAINING   FOR  SPORTS 


CHAPTER  I 
GENERAL  PHYSICAL  CONDITION 

THE  word  training  essentially  implies  a 
preparation;  whether  it  be  for  severe  physical 
effort  as  any  athletic  competition  or  military 
service  in  time  of  war,  or  merely  for  the  ordi- 
nary conduct  of  life.  Regardless  of  the  im- 
mediate end,  this  preparation  is  a  necessary 
part  of  the  growth  of  every  boy,  and  the 
athletic  incentive  is  always  a  valuable  one  be- 
cause a  consistent  course  of  regular  exercise 
purely  for  its  own  sake  is  dull  and  unappeal- 
ing at  an  age  when  the  spirit  of  play  and  com- 
petition is  so  keen.  In  this  country  our  love 
of  competitive  sport  and  team  play  constantly 
tends  to  develop  men  of  strong  and  supple 
bodies,  easily  adaptable  to  changing  condi- 
tions of  physical  hardship  and  periods  of  se- 
vere physical  strain, — men  who  preserve  their 
youthfulness  of  body  well  into  middle  age. 
Our  performance  in  the  Great  War  may  be 
attributed  directly  to  this  tendency  in  that 


4  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

we  were  able  to  take  men  from  a  civilian  life 
that  was  physically  inactive  and  in  an  amaz- 
ingly short  time  prepare  them  for  the  severe 
tests  of  endurance  and  strain  which  the  war 
demanded  of  them. 

There  is,  however,  a  widespread  feeling 
that  the  rigors  of  training  for  college  athletics 
unfit  a  man  for  the  sedentary  life  of  business. 
It  is  said  that  the  college  athlete  must  submit 
to  a  training  which  over-develops  certain  parts 
of  his  body  at  the  expense  of  other  parts.  It 
is  said  that  serious  consequences  result  when, 
in  later  life,  the  parts  so  developed  are  less 
actively  in  use,  or  that  the  strain  of  the  exer- 
tion necessary  in  a  crew  race  or  distance  run 
may  so  affect  the  heart  that  it  can  never  en- 
tirely recover.  These  statements  are  perfectly 
true  in  some  cases  where  the  preparation  has 
been  sudden  and  improperly  forced.  It  is 
likely  to  be  true  in  every  case  where  there 
has  been  too  little  general  conditioning  and 
too  little  foundation  in  the  building  up  of  a 
sound  constitution  in  early  youth. 

Training  as  a  preparation  for  games  and 
contests  should  be  cumulative  but  not  ex- 
hausting to  the  vitality.  There  should  be  a  gen- 


GENERAL  PHYSICAL  CONDITION        5 

eral  building  up  of  the  system  and  at  the 
same  time  a  gradual  increase  of  the  powers 
to  meet  the  great  effort  which  comes  at  the 
time  of  final  contest.  If  this  is  done,  the  boy 
will  not  only  be  successful  in  the  accomplish- 
ment of  his  immediate  purpose,  but  he  will 
build  up  a  constitution  and  acquire  a  knowl- 
edge and  a  habit  of  normal  physical  training 
which  will  enable  him  to  carry  on  through  life. 
The  contest  which  the  boy  is  going  to  face 
when  he  becomes  a  man,  leaves  college,  and 
goes  out  to  face  the  world,  demands  the 
preparation  that  physical  training  gives  in  the 
same  way  that  the  athletic  contest  demands  it. 
Our  aim  should  be  to  combine  these  prepara- 
tions in  a  gradual,  cumulative,  general  condi- 
tioning during  boyhood;  building  up  a  solid 
foundation,  not  by  giving  special  attention  to 
the  forced  and  rapid  development  of  par- 
ticular sets  of  muscles,  but  by  a  variety  of 
games  and  exercises  which,  more  or  less  un- 
consciously, develop  all  the  muscles  equally, 
by  an  abundance  of  fresh  air,  wholesome  diet, 
plenty  of  undisturbed  sleep  and  general 
cleanliness. 

In  general  a  boy  should  be  in  training  all 


6  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

the  time — not  merely  in  the  season  of  the  par- 
ticular sport  in  which  he  is  interested.  The 
boy  who  trains  for  two  or  three  months  in 
the  year  and  allows  himself  complete  relaxa- 
tion and  neglect  of  his  body  during  the  rest 
of  the  time,  with  frequent  excesses,  and  little 
regular  exercise,  will  find  that  he  must  work 
twice  as  hard  and  run  a  very  much  greater 
chance  of  straining  or  exhausting  himself  dur- 
ing the  intensive  period  of  work.  If  he  will 
follow  a  few  rules  of  health  such  as  will  be 
suggested  in  later  chapters  he  will  find  him- 
self able  to  accomplish  more  in  his  specialty 
with  very  much  less  effort.  Primarily  he 
should  keep  clean,  avoid  excessive  eating  of 
sweets,  take  plenty  of  time  for  meals,  avoid 
tobacco,  drink  plenty  of  water  and  sleep 
about  ten  hours  a  night.  He  should  begin  the 
day  with  a  cold  bath  and  hard  rubdown,  and 
should  take  a  few  exercises  such  as  the  "  Daily 
Dozen "  described  elsewhere  to  stretch  his 
muscles  after  the  night's  relaxation,  to  restore 
suppleness,  start  circulation,  insure  erect  car- 
riage and  improve  the  breathing.  A  few  im- 
portant things  should  be  remembered  about 
the  exercise  during  the  day.  Violent  exercise 


GENERAL  PHYSICAL  CONDITION        7 

should  not  be  taken  immediately  after  eating, 
drinking  should  be  avoided  when  hot  from 
exertion,  and  a  reasonable  time  should  inter- 
vene between  the  rubdown  after  exercise  and 
his  eating. 

One  habit  which  should  be  cultivated  by 
every  athlete  is  that  of  familiarity  with  fresh 
a'ir.  I  do  not  mean  merely  sleeping  with  the 
windows  open  or  taking  deep  breaths  in  the 
morning.  The  whole  body  should  be  exposed 
to  the  air  as  often  as  practicable.  Since  civili- 
zation forces  us  to  wear  clothes  which  keep 
the  air  from  our  bodies  so  much  of  the  time, 
we  should  take  every  opportunity  to  let  our 
pores  breathe  by  giving  ourselves  air  baths.  A 
good  chance  for  an  air  bath  is  in  the  morning 
while  shaving.  All  clothes  should  be  removed 
and  the  body  exposed  as  long  as  possible.  If 
this  is  done  while  shaving  there  is  no  waste 
of  time  and  the  habit  is  easier  to  form  in  this 
way. 

These  rules  and  others  which  will  be  given 
later  (including  the  "  Daily  Dozen "  exer- 
cises) are  the  result  of  long  evolution  and  the 
real  history  of  progress  in  training  for  ath- 
letics. The  methods  in  use  during  the  early 


8  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

days  of  athletics  in  this  country  were  ex- 
tremely severe  and  worked  unnecessary  and 
harmful  hardship  on  the  men.  It  is  interest- 
ing to  trace  the  progress  toward  the  present 
methods  through  the  early  days  of  rowing  in 
the  American  colleges.  In  the  period  from 
1858  to  about  1865  the  diet  consisted  mostly 
of  meat,  the  supply  of  water  very  limited  so 
that  the  men  were  forced  to  endure  thirst; 
every  effort  was  made  to  reduce  flesh,  strenu- 
ous exercise  was  required  on  an  empty  stom- 
ach, and  the  crew  rowed  four  miles  every 
morning  and  afternoon  throughout  the  sea- 
son. In  the  period  from  1865  to  1887  there 
developed  a  complete  change  in  method  of 
training  which  was  based  on  the  failure  of  the 
earlier  system  to  get  results.  The  diet  was 
'enlarged  and  varied,  the  exercise  became 
gradual  and  more  general  and  came  to  in- 
clude calisthenic  exercises  for  all-round  devel- 
opment. It  began  to  be  recognized  that  some 
flesh  and  weight  were  assets  and  that  a  large 
chest  was  absolutely  indispensable.  But  most 
important  of  all  it  was  realized,  and  has  since 
become  universally  accepted,  that  overtraining 
is  one  of  the  greatest  dangers  of  crew  work 


GENERAL  PHYSICAL  CONDITION        9 

as  it  is  of  all  the  more  strenuous  sports.  The 
greatest  mistake  still  tended,  however,  to  per- 
sist, namely  the  belief  that  large  muscles  were 
a  thing  to  be  desired,  and  the  calisthenic  work 
partook  of  the  error. 

The  properly  trained  athlete  of  today  re- 
mains, in  his  attitude  of  mind,  at  least,  an 
athlete  through  life.  He  has  gained  a  respect 
for  his  body  which  will  keep  him  from  abusing 
it.  He  has  never  acquired  a  taste  for  dissi- 
pation or  excesses  during  the  period  of  his 
life  when  most  of  his  tastes  are  formed.  He 
has  learned  a  habit  of  exercise  which,  while  it 
will  and  must  become  more  moderate  with  in- 
creased age  and  under  more  sedentary  condi- 
tions, he  will  never  give  up.  He  will  not  have 
become  "  fed-up "  by  training,  as  were  the 
athletes  of  the  last  century;  a  condition  which 
often  led  to  violent  reaction,  as  soon  as  the 
training  was  over. 

Thus  we  make  of  athletics,  not  an  end  in 
itself  but  a  means  to  a  healthy  manhood,  and 
one  which  can  endure  the  strain  of  a  profes- 
sional life  or  of  a  business  office  and  yet  be 
ready  for  such  an  emergency  as  so  many  busi- 
ness men  were  forced  to  face  in  the  recent 


10  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

war.  We  see  that  properly  conducted  athletic 
training  is  not  a  menace  to  after  life,  but  of 
real  value,  especially  as  it  inculcates  personal 
habits  which  are  as  useful  to  the  man  of 
middle  age  as  they  are  to  the  boy  in  school 
or  college.  The  succeeding  chapters  will 
trace  the  training  through  childhood,  school, 
college  and  middle  life  and  will  show  spe- 
cifically in  what  it  consists  and  how  it  is 
helped  rather  than  hindered  by  the  various 
kinds  of  athletic  competition. 


CHAPTER  II 

GENERAL  TRAINING  ACCORDING 
TO  AGE 

THE  earlier  in  life  a  general  building  up  is 
begun,  the  better  will  be  the  ultimate  results. 
With  an  early  beginning  the  work  can  be 
more  gradual,  less  conscious,  and  more  as 
nature  intended  it.  In  childhood  the  instinct 
of  play,  the  desire  for  experiment,  the  neces- 
sity of  variety  produce  unconscious  exercise 
of  all  the  muscles.  But  in  the  play  of  the 
child  each  muscle  is  exercised  for  a  short  time 
only  and  there  is  no  specialization.  The  child 
never  keeps  for  long  at  any  one  game  or  kind 
6?  play.  He  concentrates  very  little  and  is 
easily  distracted;  also  his  muscles  tire  quickly 
if  any  one  motion  is  constantly  repeated.  If 
you  watch  a  child  of  under  ten  years  who 
is  doing  something  which  requires  constant 
repetition  of  a  motion  by  some  one  set  of 
muscles  such  as  walking  or  rowing  a  boat,  you 
will  notice  that  he  keeps  trying  to  change  the 

11 


12  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

motion  by  breaking  into  a  run  or  by  rowing 
first  with  one  oar  and  then  with  the  other  and 
so  on.  This  is  Nature's  expression  of  her  de- 
sire at  that  age  for  variety  of  motion. 

Any  set  form  of  exercises  continued  for 
any  length  of  time  is  bad  for  children  of  early 
school  age.  They  cannot  walk  far  because,  in 
walking,  the  muscles  of  the  back  are  set  and 
that  is  unnatural  at  an  age  when  exercise 
should  be  constantly  shifting  and  changing. 
They  should  never  have  more  than  a  minute 
or  two  at  a  time  of  calisthenic  work,  and  this 
should  consist  mostly  of  muscle  stretching 
exercises  and  breathing.  The  more  spontane- 
ous and  the  less  organized  their  sports  and 
games,  the  better.  After  a  child  has  learned 
the  game  idea  and  understands  what  it  means 
to  play  according  to  certain  rules,  and  espe- 
cially when  he  begins  to  feel  the  spirit  of  com- 
petition, which,  with  boys,  is  generally  an 
instinct,  he  will  be  constantly  discovering  and 
inventing  new  games  and  variations  on  old 
ones  which  will  lead  him  into  a  healthful, 
natural  and  unconscious  daily  exercise  of  all 
his  muscles.  This  will  prove  to  be  all  that  is 
necessary  for  early  physical  training. 


TRAINING  ACCORDING  TO  AGE        13 

The  child  should  learn  at  an  early  age  to 
love  fresh  air,  to  enjoy  being  outdoors  as 
much  as  possible,  to  respect  his  body  and  to 
keep  clean.  Sleep  is  essential  and  the  lack  of 
it  checks  growth  in  all  directions.  If  these 
things  are  kept  in  mind  and  the  child  is  allowed 
to  play  the  sort  of  games  which  spontaneously 
appeal  to  him,  and  not  bothered  with  set  exer- 
cises which  develop  certain  muscles  more  than 
others,  he  will  grow  normally  and  establish 
in  his  childhood  a  good  foundation  for  any 
sort  of  athletic  work  later. 

From  twelve  to  fifteen,  we  can  begin  more 
definite  training.  Boys  of  this  age  get  most 
of  their  physical  development  through  sports 
and  games,  which  now  become  more  regular, 
more  organized,  and  generally  require  more 
concentration.  It  is,  in  fact,  an  age  of  concen- 
tration if  not  of  specialization;  the  boy  de- 
velops interests  that  are  immensely  absorbing 
to  him,  and  his  mind  and  body  grow  rapidly 
under  these  influences.  He  is  thinking  con- 
stantly of  athletics,  organizing  teams,  tourna- 
ments, meets,  etc.,  and  making  sports  a  more 
conscious  and  serious  part  of  his  daily  life. 

Here,  also,  we  may  begin  more  defined  train- 


14  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

ing.  At  this  age  boys  may  be  taught  some- 
thing about  their  diet,  although  if  in  good 
health  and  out  of  doors  they  can  eat  almost 
anything  of  a  plain,  wholesome  nature.  There 
is  no  necessity  for  cutting  off  sweets  so  long 
as  they  eat  other  wholesome  food.  Sweets 
should  preferably  be  eaten  after  other  food. 
The  important  thing  to  avoid  is  the  habit  of 
eating  between  meals  or  eating  meals  at  ir- 
regular times,  taking  away  the  appetite  by 
pastry  and  candy  and  thus  making  these 
things  the  basis  of  diet  instead  of  solid  food. 
A  later  chapter  will  take  up  the  subject  of 
diet  in  more  detail  and  will  give  some  useful 
rules  which  may  be  profitably  followed  by 
boys  at  the  beginning  of  their  athletic  career. 
Boys  do  not  take  kindly  to  setting-up  and 
ealisthenic  work,  but  it  is  important  that  they 
begin  to  take  certain  exercises  to  develop 
poise  and  carriage,  open  up  the  thoracic  cavity, 
put  muscles  over  the  shoulder  blades  and 
strengthen  the  neck.  In  doing  this  we  are 
preparing  the  boy  for  his  future,  not  only  in 
athletics,  but  in  life.  Our  present  games  do 
not  give  enough  of  this  exercise  for  the  back, 
shoulders  and  neck.  That  is  why  we  have  so 


TRAINING  ACCORDING  TO  AGE        15 

many  stoop-shouldered  athletes,  the  exer- 
cises used  should  not  be  over-strenuous  or  last 
too  long;  they  should  be  made  as  little  of  a 
bore  as  possible,  and  when  the  boys  realize 
that  this  work  will  help  them  in  their  games, 
they  can  be  persuaded  to  take  them  with 
equanimity. 

Between  the  ages  of  fifteen  and  twenty-five, 
the  general  physical  condition  is  of  vital  im- 
portance, not  only  for  success  in  athletics,  but 
in  the  equipment  for  life.  It  is  primarily  for 
boys  of  these  ages  that  this  book  is  intended. 
It  is  during  this  period  that  the  hardest,  most 
strenuous,  most  consistent  physical  work  is 
done.  It  includes  the  last  years  of  school  and 
all  of  college  for  most  boys,  and  if  they  will 
accomplish  important  success  in  athletics  they 
must  keep  in  training  most  of  the  time  during 
these  years.  The  most  unfortunate  effects  of 
these  ten  years  occur  at  the  point  where  a 
man  who  has  been  leading  an  exceedingly 
vigorous  life  graduates  from  college  and  sud- 
denly goes  into  a  factory  or  business  or  a 
profession  which  does  not  allow  nearly  the 
same  amount  of  time  for  the  physical  side. 
Here  it  is  essential  that  the  exercise  be  less- 


16  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

ened  gradually  and  certain  compensation 
made  if  we  wish  to  have  the  man  in  good 
physical  condition  later. 

Calisthenic  exercises  are  well  adapted  to  the 
period  of  this  change.  They  take  up  little 
time  and  require  no  equipment  and  can  be 
done  in  the  morning  before  the  bath  and  rub- 
down.  Breathing  exercises  are  particularly 
desirable  and  stretching  of  the  muscles  and 
trunk.  The  simple  movements  known  as  the 
"  Daily  Dozen  "  do  not  take  more  than  eight 
or  ten  minutes,  keep  the  important  muscles  of 
the  body  in  good  shape  and  help  the  general 
condition  without  causing  muscular  fatigue. 
In  the  first  year  of  business,  a  man  should 
get  all  the  fresh  air  he  possibly  can,  walking 
to  and  from  his  office  and  spending  his  week- 
ends out  of  doors.  But  he  should  not  indulge 
in  such  an  orgy  of  strenuous  and  long-con- 
tinued exercise  as  to  leave  him  tired  out  on 
Monday  morning. 

For  the  next  fifteen  or  twenty  years,  a 
man's  pathway  is  practically  fixed,  and  he 
must  get  what  he  can  out  of  it.  System  is 
essential.  Daily  exercise,  even  of  a  limited 
character,  is  of  the  greatest  importance, — not 


TRAINING  ACCORDING  TO  AGE        17 

frenzies  of  exercise  taken  once  a  week  or  once 
a  month.  These  occasional  over-exertions  are 
likely  to  have  bad  effects  at  this  age,  espe- 
cially if  a  man  lets  himself  go,  physically,  be- 
tween them. 

This  is  the  age  when  he  should  be  in  the 
prime  of  his  physical  condition,  but  he  has 
already  passed  the  age  when  Nature  will 
stand  for  serious  overdrafts  as  she  will  from 
twenty  to  twenty-five.  At  this  earlier  age, 
forty-eight  hours'  rest  will  restore  a  man  com- 
pletely from  any  physical  strain  he  is  likely 
to  undergo.  Later  there  may  be  serious  con- 
sequences, although  this  depends  largely  on 
the  physical  condition  in  which  a  man  keeps 
himself,  the  nature  and  quantity  of  his  exer- 
cise, and  the  strength  of  the  constitution  he 
has  built  up  in  his  earlier  years.  There  were 
men  in  all  the  regular  armies  who  were  able  to 
endure  the  most  difficult  kinds  of  physical  exer- 
tion during  the  war  because  their  regular 
drill  and  training  in  the  army  had  kept  their 
general  condition  so  good.  There  were  many 
civilians  of  over  forty  who  were  able  to  stand 
the  strain  and  whose  endurance  was  in  many 
cases  equal  to  that  of  much  younger  men. 


18  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

This  was  because  their  physical  training  had 
aimed  at  an  all-round  preparation  and  had  be- 
gun gradually. 

From  forty-five  on,  a  man  must  realize  that 
his  physical  powers  have  begun  to  wane  and 
that  while  nature  has  always  kept  a  certain 
margin  of  reserve  so  that  he  can,  with  im- 
punity, tire  himself  once  in  a  while,  he  cannot 
safely  repeat  this  too  often.  He  must  also 
plan  for  the  kind  of  exercise  and  sport  that 
he  can  continue  for  the  next  ten  or  twenty 
years,  and  begin  to  adjust  his  economy  ac- 
cordingly. He  may  play  golf  and  take  such 
exercise  as  riding,  walking,  swimming,  etc.,  in 
"moderation.  The  amount  he  can  do  at  this 
age  will  largely  depend  on  the  condition  he 
has  been  able  to  keep  up  and  the  foundation 
he  has  laid  in  his  boyhood  and  youth. 

The  main  thing  to  remember  about  physical 
work  after  forty  is  that  the  reserve  must 
never  be  drawn  on  beyond  reasonable  limits. 
A  man  who  derives  his  income  from  interest 
on  capital  does  not  draw  on  his  principal  un- 
less he  is  forced  to  by  unusual  circumstances. 
He  does  not  sell  his  securities  and  spend  the 
money  because  he  knows  that  by  doing  so  he 


TRAINING  ACCORDING  TO  AGE        19 

reduces  his  future  income  and  leaves  nothing 
to  fall  back  on  in  difficult  times.  There  is  a 
perfect  analogy  between  this  and  the  unneces- 
sary spending  of  reserve  physical  strength. 
A  man  who  continually  draws  on  his  reserve 
finds  that  his  future  capacity  for  work  is  re- 
duced, and  his  supply  so  impaired  that  when 
sickness  comes  he  has  no  reinforcements  to 
bring  to  his  aid. 

There  is  a  curiously  prevailing  belief  that 
this  reserve  supply  is  unlimited.  No  one 
supposes  such  a  thing  about  his  bank  account. 
Yet  sensible  men  often  draw  down  their  ac- 
count with  Nature,  until  there  is  literally  noth- 
ing left.  She  sends  them  frequent  warnings 
in  the  form  of  headaches,  backaches,  nervous- 
ness and  insomnia.  Then  she  loses  patience, 
descends  on  them  and  puts  them  in  jail. 
Pleas  of  ignorance  and  intent  are  useless.  A 
man  may  have  been  so  absorbed  in  his  work 
that  he  may  not  have  known  that  he  was  being 
warned.  He  may  have  been  working  from 
highly  altruistic  or  patriotic  motives.  The 
result  is  the  same.  Nature  convicts  on  the 
facts  alone. 

Nevertheless,  there  are  means  of  constantly 


20  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

increasing  the  principal  and  making  it  more 
productive.  A  man  whose  chest  is  contracted 
from  a  round-shouldered  and  stooping  posi- 
tion can  do  more  and  better  work  if,  by  exer- 
cise, he  can  open  up  his  thoracic  cavity  and 
breathe  more  deeply.  A  man  whose  circula- 
tion is  poor  can  so  repair  it  that  his  actual  men- 
tal processes  are  aided  by  the  change.  He  may 
so  strengthen  his  abdominal  muscles  by  exer- 
cise that  his  organs  will  be  properly  sup- 
ported. He  may  "massage"  his  intestines 
so  as  to  increase  their  secretions  and  overcome 
constipation.  The  exercises  of  the  "  Daily 
Dozen "  are  designed  to  attain  these  very 
ends,  and  if  they  are  regularly  practised  by 
men  whose  occupations  are  sedentary,  they 
will  greatly  increase  the  health  and  the  re- 
serve force,  and  enable  a  man  to  do  very 
much  more  and  harder  mental  work. 

But  the  need  for  these  exercises  is  by  no 
means  confined  to  men  of  middle  age  nor  to 
those  whose  life  is  sedentary.  The  athlete 
needs  them,  for  in  the  work  he  does  there 
is  nothing  to  give  him  a  correct  posture.  A 
man  can  play  baseball,  football  or  tennis  in 
a  round-shouldered  position  just  as  well  as 


TRAINING  ACCORDING  TO  AGE        21 

with  his  shoulders  back  and  his  chest  ex- 
panded. Many  of  our  athletes  have  a  stoop- 
ing carriage  because  nothing  in  their  athletics 
has  taught  them  to  stand  up  straight.  The 
man  who  rows  has  a  particular  need  for  the 
exercises  which  open  up  his  thoracic  cavity  and 
increase  his  chest  capacity. 

The  farmer,  for  example,  has  an  exceed- 
ingly active  life.  He  exercises  almost  con- 
stantly from  the  time  he  gets  up  until  he  goes 
to  bed.  It  is  unquestionably  true  that  he  does 
not  need  the  ordinary  Swedish  exercises  which 
build  up  massive  muscles  on  the  arms  and 
legs.  But  the  farmer  of  fifty  is  nearly  always 
bent  and  stooping.  He  shows  his  age  earlier 
than  other  men.  He  has  neglected  his  chest, 
neck,  the  position  of  his  shoulders.  A  few 
exercises  every  day  might  have  saved  his  pos- 
ture and  conserved  his  youth,  without  adding 
any  appreciable  burden  to  the  day's  work. 

Physically,  we  are  really  wild  animals  in  the 
captivity  of  civilization  and  we  can  learn 
much  from  the  animals  we  have  confined.  A 
visit  to  the  zoo  will  reveal  the  fact  that  most 
of  the  mammals  there  which  have  been  de- 
prived of  their  normal  exercise  devote  a  good 


22  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

part  of  their  time  to  a  system  of  calisthenics 
which  is  designed  by  nature  to  conserve  their 
health  in  spite  of  their  confinement.  Their 
movements  are  those  of  stretching.  Their 
legs  are  exercised  in  pacing  their  cages,  but 
the  other  muscles  of  the  body  are  developed 
and  kept  in  condition  by  these  stretching 
exercises.  This  same  sort  of  exercise  is 
equally  healthful  to  the  human  animal. 

A  few  years  ago  a  friend  of  mine  made,  at 
my  suggestion,  a  moving  picture  film  of  these 
animals  going  through  their  stretching  move- 
ments. I  wanted  it  used  in  connection  with 
the  physical  training  work  in  the  navy,  in 
which  I  was  interested  at  that  time.  My 
friend  told  me  that  he  had  gone  to  the  zoo 
with  the  photographer  prepared  to  wait  sev- 
eral days  in  the  hope  of  catching  some  of  the 
animals  in  the  act  of  stretching.  "  As  a 
matter  of  fact,"  he  added,  "  I  didn't  have  to 
wait  five  minutes.  Every  animal  in  sight  was 
stretching  when  I  arrived,  and  they  were  still 
doing  it  when  I  left." 

Everyone  knows  the  distinct  sense  of  relief 
that  comes  from  a  good  stretch.  This  same 
sensation  comes  from  moderate  exercise  with 


TRAINING  ACCORDING  TO  AGE       23 

the  "  Daily  Dozen,"  and  the  results  in  a  short 
time  are  extraordinarily  gratifying.  Regard- 
less of  age  and  occupation,  they  are  exceed- 
ingly valuable  aids  to  the  preservation  of  good 
general  condition. 


THE  two  principal  dangers  that  confront 
the  athlete  are  those  of  overwork  and  under- 
work; of  these,  the  former  is  by  far  the 
greater.  The  natural  energy  and  enthusiasm 
of  boys  of  school  and  college  age,  their  fear 
of  being  thought  "  quitters "  or  "  yellow," 
their  sense  of  loyalty  and  responsibility  to 
their  school  and  college — all  these  influences 
tend  to  make  an  athlete  work  far  beyond  his 
strength  and  have,  in  many  cases,  brought 
about  serious  consequences.  It  is  difficult  for 
a  boy,  in  the  midst  of  the  strain  and  excite- 
ment of  the  training  season,  when  the  whole 
atmosphere  about  him  is  tense  with  the  antici- 
pation of  the  coming  game,  to  think  very 
much  about  the  future — of  the  life  that  is 
going  to  follow  his  graduation,  for  which,  in 
large  measure,  his  training  now  is  a  prepara- 
tion. It  is  even  more  difficult,  at  a  time  when 
thfe  fate  of  the  whole  world  seems  to  hang 

24 


WHY  ATHLETES  GO  STALE  25 

on  the  outcome  of  that  final  game,  for  him  to 
maintain  a  proper  sense  of  proportion.  Yet 
it  is  at  this  very  time  that  he  should  be  most 
careful,  for  if  he  strains  himself  by  any  ex- 
treme exertion  or  tries  to  endure  beyond  his 
capacity,  he  not  only  runs  a  risk  of  life  injury, 
but  he  is  very  likely  to  put  himself  out  of 
the  particular  game  or  sport  for  which  he  is 
training. 

Coaches  and  trainers  are  coming  to  realize 
more  and  more  every  year  the  necessity  for 
cautioning  the  athletes  under  their  care  in 
this  respect.  Physical  directors  in  schools  and 
colleges  are  making  a  special  point  of  care- 
fully watching  the  work  of  the  men  in  relation 
to  the  capacity  of  the  individual;  slowing  up 
certain  men  that  are  showing  signs  of  over- 
exertion  and  those  who  are  endowed  by  nature 
with  less  robust  physique.  In  most  schools 
and  colleges  a  boy  is  required  to  pass  a  phys- 
ical examination  and  sometimes  a  strength 
test  before  he  is  allowed  to  enter  the  more 
violent  forms  of  athletic  contest,  such  as  foot- 
ball, running,  rowing,  etc.  Then  during  his 
training  he  is  watched  in  relation  to  this  test 
and  kept  carefully  within  its  limits. 


26  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

This  brings  up  an  extremely  important 
point,  and  I  think  it  would  not  be  amiss  to 
repeat  here  something  that  I  said  in  another 
book  in  this  series,  for  it  cannot  be  too  often 
repeated.  It  is  common  for  schoolboys  to 
overrate  their  capacity,  and  because  one  of 
their  number  has  achieved  some  extraordinary 
feat  to  believe  that  with  sufficient  training 
they  might  all  accomplish  a  similar  perform- 
ance. 

It  is  quite  usual  in  this  country  to  rate  the 
victory  higher  than  the  game,  and  for  this 
reason  a  training  season  in  some  sport  which 
should  be  amusing  and  healthful  to  the  ath- 
letes becomes  a  severe  physical  and  nervous 
strain,  often  mere  drudgery  in  which  the  final 
event  is  the  only  high  light,  and  that  last  con- 
test accompanied  by  such  tension  that  there  is 
a  distinct  relief  and  let-down  when  it  is  over. 
It  is  unfortunate  that  so  much  of  our  play, 
although  it  has  such  a  strong  character  devel- 
opment, lends  itself  so  easily  to  excess  of  com- 
petition. No  one  wishes  to  take  the  virility  out 
of  it  but  to  safeguard  it  from  desperate  ex- 
tremes. 

Going  "  stale  "  or,  going  "  fine  "  may  be 


WHY  ATHLETES  GO  STALE          27 

due  to  any  one  of  a  large  number  of  causes 
of  which  worry,  poor  food,  wrong  eating  and 
drinking,  too  severe  competition,  lack  of  sleep, 
indecision,  shifting  coaches,  monotony  and 
dissipation  are  the  most  important.  In  track, 
athletes  often  go  stale  from  too  many  time 
trials.  A  time  trial  may  have  all  the  excite- 
ment, nervous  strain  and  competitive  effort 
which  attend  the  event  itself,  and  if  this  is  too 
often  repeated  a  man's  capacity  for  making 
the  effort  required  to  win  a  race  is  exhausted. 
Besides  this  he  becomes  nervously  tired,  is 
constantly  worried  lest  he  be  eliminated;  and 
he  may  end  by  a  complete  loss  of  interest,  a 
decline  in  physical  powers,  or  possibly  a  nerv- 
ous breakdown. 

Worry  of  all  kinds  should  be  eliminated  as 
much  as  possible  during  the  training  period. 
One  of  the  reasons  for  the  success  of  our  sol- 
diers in  France  under  all  conditions  of  work 
and  strain  was  that  they  almost  never  worried 
about  anything.  They  found  that  they  were 
able  to  endure  every  sort  of  physical  hardship 
as  long  as  their  minds  were  free,  but  anything 
that  upset  them  mentally,  such  as  bad  news 
from  home,  immediately  lessened  their  powers 


28  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

of  resistance  and  endurance.  It  is  so  with 
the  athlete.  When  he  begins  to  worry  about 
the  game  ahead,  his  own  condition,  his  school 
or  college  work,  he  begins  to  lose  sleep,  he 
becomes  subject  to  indigestion,  lack  of  appe- 
tite and  depression  of  spirits.  All  of  these 
have  physical  effects,  and  if  a  boy  allows  him- 
self to  worry  to  this  extent,  he  is  likely  to  lose 
the  very  thing  he  most  desires. 

While  worry  is  often  the  cause  of  rundown 
health,,  it  is  more  often  the  eifect  of  such  a 
condition.  A  man  who  is  in  perfect  health, 
who  is  neither  over-tired  nor  underworked  is 
generally  free  from  it.  Great  exhaustion 
often  produces  a  restlessness  of  mind  and  im- 
agination that  makes  sound  refreshing  sleep 
impossible,  no  matter  how  great  the  fatigue. 
Thus  it  often  happens  that  a  boy  who  has 
become  exhausted  in  his  training  begins  to 
worry  about  the  work  of  the  classroom  so  that 
he  cannot  sleep.  This  can  be  overcome  to  a 
large  extent  by  a  complete  relaxation  of  the 
mind  just  before  going  to  bed,  changing  the 
subject  of  thought  by  a  game  of  some  kind 
or  by  reading  some  light  story. 

The  subject  of  food  during  intensive  train- 


WHY  ATHLETES  GO  STALE  29 

ing  is  one  on  which  there  has  been  much  con- 
troversy. But  though  there  is  difference  of 
opinion  on  details  of  diet,  there  is  general 
agreement  on  the  necessity  of  having  the  food 
fresh  and  well  prepared.  Vegetables  that  are 
stale,  old  meat,  over-ripe  fruit,  canned  foods 
that  have  been  opened  too  long,  are  almost 
certain  to  cause  diarrhea  or  ptomaine  poison- 
ing, which  may  be  so  weakening  as  to  put  a 
man  out  of  the  running  for  the  whole  season. 
Also  it  is  very  important  that  food  should  be 
properly  cooked.  Undercooked  potato,  oat- 
meal, rice,  etc.,  cannot  be  digested,  and  while 
they  may  not  cause  any  immediate  sickness, 
they  deprive  a  man  of  the  nourishment  he 
should  be  getting.  Besides  the  actual  physical 
effects  of  poor  food,  there  is  a  dissatisfaction 
which  comes  from  eating  it  which  is  likely  to 
lead  to  indigestion  and  loss  of  appetite. 
There  is  a  cumulative  effect  that  comes  from 
eating  poorly  prepared  food  day  after  day 
that  is  very  demoralizing.  Boys  in  training 
should  be  able  to  look  forward  eagerly  to  their 
meals;  they  should  never  dread  them  as  they 
surely  will  unless  there  is  careful  supervision 
of  the  training  table. 


30  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

Of  course  if  poor  food  is  served  at  the  table, 
there  will  be  a  constant  temptation  to  eat 
between  meals  at  all  sorts  of  odd  hours.  This 
improper  eating  is  one  of  the  causes  of  going 
stale  which  never  fails.  Nature  has  so  ar- 
ranged our  internal  machinery  that  regularity 
is  absolutely  essential.  To  put  food  into  your 
stomach  at  a  time  when  that  organ  neither 
expects  nor  requires  it,  is  to  put  the  digestive 
mechanism  under  a  strain  which,  sooner  or 
later,  will  inevitably  clog  the  system  and  cause 
stoppage  of  the  whole  digestive  function. 
When  this  happens  the  athlete's  career  is  at 
an  end.  It  makes  no  difference  how  healthful 
the  food  is  which  is  taken  at  these  times.  If 
it  is  irregularly  eaten  it  is  worse  in  its  effect 
than  much  richer  food  taken  regularly.  The 
restrictions  on  diet  are  so  few,  as  will  be  seen 
in  a  later  chapter  on  that  subject,  that  it 
should  not  be  much  of  an  effort  to  curb  this 
desire  for  between-meal-eating,  which  is  gen- 
erally nothing  more  than  a  mere  nervous 
habit,  if  the  food  that  is  provided  at  regular 
meals  is  sufficient  in  quantity  and  prepared  in 
the  proper  way. 

It  is  a  mistake  to  try  to  economize  on  the 


WHY  ATHLETES  GO  STALE  31 

training  table.  The  team  is  almost  sure  to 
suffer.  I  know  of  one  university  in  which,  as 
part  of  a  general  scheme  of  economy,  they 
cut  down  especially  on  the  training  table, 
which  immediately  began  to  fall  below  stand- 
ard. The  linen  was  less  frequently  washed 
and  presented  a  very  unappetizing  appear- 
ance. The  food  was  badly  cooked  and  badly 
served.  At  one  meal  bad  meat  was  offered 
which,  besides  resulting  in  sickness,  preju- 
diced the  men  against  all  the  meat  that  was 
served  afterward.  The  general  atmosphere  of 
untidiness  in  the  room  caused  the  men  to 
dread  their  meals  and  to  eat  very  little.  The 
effect  on  the  team  was  immediate  and  they 
soon  began  to  go  stale,  losing  their  games, 
getting  discouraged  and  ending  with  an  un- 
successful season.  Another  mistake  made 
during  this  same  period  of  economy  was  a 
rule  that  no  man  should  own  an  athletic  suit, 
but  that  it  should  be  lent  him.  The  result  of 
this  was  that  the  suits,  which  were  improperly 
disinfected,  caused  the  rapid  spread  of  a  skin 
disease. 

Drinking  plenty  of  water  is  a  necessity  for 
the  athlete  who  would  keep  in  good  condition. 


32  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

Seven  or  eight  glasses  a  day  are  advisable, 
but  the  greater  part  of  this  should  not  be 
taken  with  meals  or  immediately  after  exer- 
cise. Drinking  much  water  with  meals  leads 
to  getting  too  little  nutriment,  while  drinking 
when  very  much  overheated  is  often  extremely 
dangerous.  Water  should  never  be  iced,  but 
should  be  drunk  at  the  temperature  of  the 
room.  Milk  must  never  be  drunk  rapidly, 
but  should  be  slowly  sipped. 

Too  severe  competition  so  that  a  boy  is  con- 
stantly keyed  up  is  a  strain  which  is  likely  to 
have  bad  results  toward  the  end  of  the  season. 
Fear  of  being  dropped  from  the  team,  the 
constant  irritation  of  someone  pressing  close 
behind  him  ready  to  take  his  place  at  the  first 
sign  of  weakness,  may  get  on  a  man's  nerves  to 
such  an  extent  that  he  may  suffer  from  all 
the  effects  of  the  worry  already  described. 
Indecision  on  the  part  of  a  coach  may  be  the 
cause  of  this;  continual  change  of  mind  on 
the  part  of  anyone  in  command  of  men, 
whether  he  be  an  army  officer,  an  employer 
of  labor  or  an  athletic  coach,  is  always  de- 
moralizing. The  inability  of  a  coach  to  decide 
between  two  men  has  sometimes  caused  both 


33 

of  them  to  go  stale  from  nervous  strain  and 
excessive  effort. 

Shifting  coaches  has  the  effect  of  changing 
method,  which  often  brings  about  lack  of 
confidence.  Boys  who  have  gone  halfway 
through  a  football  season,  for  instance,  under 
one  coach,  have  gained  confidence  in  his 
method.  If  he  is  suddenly  replaced  by 
another  man  whose  method  is  entirely  dif- 
ferent, the  boys  naturally  believe  that  all  they 
have  learned  is  useless.  This  is  likely  to  dis- 
courage them  so  that  they  may  lose  interest 
in  the  rest  of  the  season.  Again,  a  new  coach 
has  no  knowledge  of  the  work  of  the  indi- 
vidual members  of  the  team,  and  is  likely  to 
do  some  of  them  serious  injustice.  Further- 
more, he  may,  through  ignorance  of  the  indi- 
viduals on  his  team,  put  an  excessive  strain 
on  some  boy  who  needs  light  work. 

Monotony  is  one  of  the  most  natural  and 
logical  causes  of  going  stale.  Indeed,  the 
very  expression  "  going  stale  "  implies  a  dul- 
ness  and  dreariness  of  routine,  a  sort  of  stag- 
nation of  sameness.  During  the  intensive 
drill  periods  of  the  war,  officers  found  that  it 
was  absolutely  essential  to  vary  the  monotony 


34.  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

by  games,  walks,  snowball  fights,  boxing 
matches  and  any  other  diversions  that  sug- 
gested themselves.  Without  these  changes, 
the  men  would  have  inevitably  gone  stale,  that 
is,  they  would  have  lost  discipline,  become 
sloppy  in  their  drill  and  deteriorated  in  effi- 
ciency. The  same  is  true  of  an  athletic  train- 
ing season.  General  regularity  of  schedule  is 
essential  but  the  variety  of  its  detail  is  even 
more  so.  There  must  be  enough  element  of 
change  or,  if  possible,  of  surprise  in  the  work 
to  make  the  men  look  forward  to  it.  A  coach 
of  any  experience  can  easily  tell  when  his  men 
are  getting  "  fed-up  "  on  any  particular  de- 
tail of  practice.  That  is  the  time  to  change 
quickly  to  something  quite  different,  regard- 
less of  any  prearranged  schedule. 

With  the  best  conditions,  the  training  table 
often  gets  very  monotonous  late  in  the  season. 
Eating  every  day  with  the  same  men  some- 
times gets  on  a  man's  nerves.  He  gets  to 
know  them  so  intimately  in  the  daily  work 
that  to  see  them  again  and  again  at  meals 
sometimes  becomes  very  tiresome  to  him,  no 
matter  how  much  he  may  like  them.  The 
conversation  becomes  dull  because  he  has 


WHY  ATHLETES  GO  STALE  35 

heard  it  all  before.  Most  of  the  men  are  so 
full  of  their  training  that  they  cannot  talk  of 
much  else.  If  discussions  of  the  game  are 
tabu,  as  they  often  are,  because  any  heated 
discussion  during  meals  is  bad  for  the  diges- 
tion and  because  change  of  thought  at  meal- 
time is  most  advisable,  the  conversation  lags 
from  loss  of  interest.  Often  it  is  a  good  thing 
for  a  man  who  shows  signs  of  going  stale  to 
be  taken  away  from  the  training  table  for  a 
few  days  and  given  a  chance  to  associate  with 
different  people,  so  as  to  get  a  change  of 
thought.  This  is  particularly  desirable  with 
such  a  man  as  a  quarterback  or  the  stroke  of 
a  crew  whose  success  depends  largely  on  his 
coolness  and  nervous  control.  Of  course  such 
a  man  is  by  far  the  most  likely  to  go  stale 
mentally.  Another  way  to  relieve  monotony 
is  to  change  the  opponents.  A  football  team 
that  has  been  playing  against  the  same  scrub 
team  all  the  time  might  be  given  a  chance  to 
play  the  freshmen  occasionally.  In  a  boat,  any 
change  that  is  made  stimulates  interest.  Of 
course  most  of  these  changes  will  occur  early 
in  the  season  before  the  monotony  has  grown 
intense,  but  at  any  time  a  shake-up  may  be  a 


36  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

good  thing  for  a  stale  team,  even  if  it  is  only 
temporary. 

A  boy  in  training  for  any  athletic  sport 
should  get  at  least  nine  hours'  sleep  every 
night;  ten  will  do  him  no  harm.  This  sleep 
should  be  sound  and  undisturbed.  Every 
effort  should  be  made  to  eliminate  all  noise 
which  tends  to  keep  one  awake  or  cause  wak- 
ing during  the  night.  The  proper  amount  of 
exercise  and  a  healthy  mental  and  nervous 
condition  should  induce  sound  sleep  if  the 
conditions  for  it  are  right.  Mosquitoes  in  the 
room  during  the  night  and  flies  in  the  early 
morning  are  almost  sure  to  prevent  sleep  and 
must  be  kept  out.  A  mosquito  bar  such  as  is 
used  for  camping  and  which  may  be  obtained 
at  any  sporting  goods  store  at  very  slight  ex- 
pense will  effectively  accomplish  this  and  will 
well  repay  the  effort. 

More  than  a  word  on  dissipation  should 
hardly  be  necessary  to  an  earnest  athlete  who 
desires  to  make  good  in  any  kind  of  sport. 
Every  boy  knows  that  alcohol  in  any  form  is 
absolutely  tabu.  Smoking  must  be  entirely 
avoided.  Sexual  incontinence  is  destructive 
to  both  the  physical  and  nervous  well-being 


WHY  ATHLETES  GO  STALE  37 

which  strenuous  training  demands,  and  is  al- 
ways exceedingly  dangerous  because  of  the 
great  likelihood  of  acquiring  permanent  disa- 
bility from  venereal  disease.  In  addition  to 
this,  illicit  intercourse  is  always  degrading, 
and  no  boy  of  sound  ideals  will  allow  himself 
to  be  tempted  in  this  way. 

These,  then,  are  the  usual  causes  for  going 
stale,  and,  if  they  are  kept  in  mind  by  both  the 
coaches  and  the  athletes  themselves,  there  is 
no  reason  why  every  man  on  the  team  and  on 
the  squad  should  not  finish  the  season  in  ex- 
cellent condition  fully  equipped  to  go  to  the 
limit  of  his  strength  in  every  event  and  acquit 
himself  perfectly  in  the  final  test. 


CHAPTER  IV 

MENTAL  AND  NERVOUS 
CONDITION 

THE  relation  between  mind  and  body  is 
never  so  intimate  as  in  athletic  sport.  The 
success  of  any  game  or  event  is  immediately 
dependent  upon  it.  The  most  important  part 
of  an  athlete's  job  is  in  keeping  this  connec- 
tion absolutely  clear;  allowing  nothing  to 
come  between  which  may  interrupt  or  con- 
fuse it  in  any  way.  It  is  like  the  electrical 
connection  between  the  bridge  of  a  ship  and 
its  engine;  the  moment  it  is  broken,  the  con- 
trol is  lost  and  disaster  is  imminent. 

Nervousness,  depression,  pessimism,  worry, 
fear, — all  these  are  interruptions  which  pre- 
vent the  mind  from  exercising  its  proper  con- 
trol over  the  body.  Overwork,  fatigue,  ir- 
regularity, indigestion,  headaches,  colds  and 
general  rundown  condition  prevent  the  body 
from  obeying  the  mind's  commands.  Both 
sorts  of  interruption  are  equally  bad  in  their 

38 


MENTAL  AND  NERVOUS  CONDITION     39 

results,  but  they  are  so  bound  up  in  each  other 
that  it  is  often  very  difficult  to  discover 
whether  the  cause  is  physical  or  mental. 

The  old  saying  that  a  sound  mind  dwells 
in  a  sound  body  has  been  proved  so  often  that 
it  has  become  a  platitude.  But  as  athletes 
we  must  remember  that  the  converse  is  equally 
true;  a  sane,  healthy,  properly  balanced  mind 
whose  outlook  is  cheerful  and  courageous  is 
the  greatest  possible  aid  to  efficient  physical 
work.  In  the  first  place  health  of  mind  is  a 
large  factor  in  keeping  away  bodily  ills,  be- 
cause it  does  not  expect  them.  A  strong, 
happy  mind  never  contemplates  weakness  be- 
cause its  interest  is  concentrated  on  strength. 
It  becomes  unconscious  of  ordinary  physical 
discomfort  and  therefore  does  not  suffer  from 
it.  A  man  who  is  wounded  in  battle  or  hurt 
in  a  football  game  is  often  quite  unconscious 
of  his  wound  because  his  mind  is  interested 
in  something  else.  His  injury  is  so  insignifi- 
cant compared  with  his  goal  or  objective  that 
he  ignores  it.  He  is  often  much  surprised  to 
see  that  he  has  been  bleeding.  The  sight  of 
the  blood  brings  his  mind  back  to  himself  and 
he  begins  to  suffer  pain.  But  during  the  time 


40  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

that  he  has  been  unconscious  of  it  he  has  heen 
able  to  do  work  which  would  have  been  im- 
possible had  he  been  suffering  physical  dis- 
comfort. Furthermore  the  vitality  which  he 
has  been  able  to  keep  up  has  greatly  increased 
his  body's  resistance  to  the  effects  of  the 
wound. 

A  morbid,  self-centered  mind  is  constantly 
courting  pain.  Continually  dwelling  on 
weakness,  it  is  always  in  dread  of  bodily  ills. 
By  anticipation  it  increases  the  sensibility  of 
the  nerves  to  keen  suffering.  By  quick,  nerv- 
ous flights  of  the  imagination  it  greatly  mag- 
nifies every  discomfort.  In  time  it  lowers  the 
vitality  and  renders  the  body  liable  to  con- 
tagion. I  have  seen  an  epidemic  of  tonsillitis 
run  through  an  entire  team  merely  because 
the  men  had  become  discouraged  by  bad  con- 
ditions and  repeated  failure. 

But  when  we  come  to  look  for  the  causes 
of  unhealthy  mental  condition  we  often  find 
a  physical  reason.  A  boy  who  is  overtrained, 
for  example,  sometimes  cannot  help  being 
pessimistic  because  he  never  gets  a  chance  to 
catch  up  with  his  strength.  He  goes  to  bed 
at  night  so  tired  that  his  sleep  only  half  re- 


MENTAL  AND  NERVOUS  CONDITION    41 

stores  him.  Thus,  in  the  morning,  at  the  time 
when,  normally,  he  should  feel  at  his  best,  he 
has  still  much  of  the  fatigue  he  had  when  he 
went  to  bed.  Everything  he  does  during  the 
day  simply  adds  to  that  exhaustion  and  the 
next  night  he  has  an  accumulation  from  which 
it  is  even  harder  to  recover.  Naturally  a  man 
who  feels  himself  daily  dropping  behind,  who 
knows  that  the  burden  of  his  fatigue  is  getting 
always  heavier,  cannot  see  very  much  to  be 
cheerful  about.  Fatigue  is  a  definite  physical 
poison  which  is  produced  by  the  breaking 
down  of  the  tissues.  If  these  are  not  repaired 
during  sleep,  the  poison  accumulates  and  even- 
tually a  man  breaks  down  under  it  so  that 
he  has  to  stop  all  work  for  a  time  and  take  a 
prolonged  rest. 

If,  however,  the  daily  exercise  is  normal  a 
man  or  boy  recovers  entirely  during  the  night 
and  gets  up  thoroughly  refreshed  in  mind  and 
body  and  able  to  tackle  any  problem  that 
comes  before  him.  There  is  a  surplus  of 
energy  in  the  morning  which  carries  with  it 
a  sense  of  ability  to  accomplish.  Nothing 
seems  impossible  to  the  boy  who  has  just  got 
out  of  bed  after  a  really  refreshing  sound 


42  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

sleep.  Things  which  the  night  before  he  had, 
perhaps,  given  up  in  despair,  now  seem  easy. 
It  is  only  necessary  that  something  oppose 
itself  to  him  in  order  that  he  may  combat  it. 
If  nothing  does  so,  he  creates  something.  He 
'must  have  opposition,  something  to  work 
against,  something  to  overcome.  The  greater 
the  force  of  the  opposition,  the  greater  his  fight- 
ing force  becomes.  If  luck  turns  against  him, 
his  zeal  increases  in  inverse  proportion.  A 
fit  man  is  made  a  fighter  by  reverses.  That 
is  what  in  large  measure  determines  fitness, 
— the  acceleration  of  energy  to  keep  pace  with 
increasing  opposition.  In  war,  when  an  at- 
tack runs  into  heavy  resistance,  additional 
artillery,  more  machine  guns,  the  "  auxiliary 
arms  "  are  brought  to  bear  upon  it.  Rein- 
forcements are  sent  for.  If  there  are  none 
of  these  things,  then  the  attack  fails.  Fitness 
implies  the  abundance  of  these  reserve  forces 
and  automatic  reinforcement  when  it  is  re- 
quired. 

Physical  fitness  affects  the  mind  in  that  it 
gives  confidence  and  courage.  A  man  who  is 
really  fit,  naturally  eliminates  many  of  the 
fears  and  worries  incident  to  daily  life,  such 


MENTAL  AND  NERVOUS  CONDITION    43 

as  the  fear  of  illness.  The  idea  of  illness 
never  occurs  to  a  man  whose  physique  has 
great  resisting  power.  Then  he  has  a  control 
of  his  body  which  gives  him  a  certain  calm- 
ness of  nerves  and  allows  the  proper  direction 
of  his  nervous  energy.  A  man  who  has  con- 
trol and  proper  co-ordination  of  his  muscles 
nearly  always  has  mental  poise.  Muscular 
co-ordination  means  immediate  obedience  of 
the  muscles  to  the  commands  of  the  brain  and 
a  constant  adaptability  of  the  muscles  to  sud- 
denly changing  conditions  of  direction,  motion 
and  strain. 

Another  essential  of  the  athlete,  which, 
more  obviously  than  anything  else  demon- 
strates mental  control  of  the  body  is  muscular 
co-ordination.  This  simply  means  the  imme- 
diate obedience  of  his  muscles  to  his  command 
— in  short,  the  ability  to  make  his  body  do 
exactly  what  he  wants  it  to  at  exactly  the 
right  moment.  This  requires  concentration, 
balance,  alertness  and  quick  adaptability. 
Take,  for  example,  the  center  on  a  football 
team.  While  the  quarterback  is  giving  the 
signals  he  must  concentrate  equally  on  two 
things:  his  opponent  and  the  passing  of  the 


44  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

ball.  If  he  becomes  too  absorbed  in  picking 
out  someone  in  the  opposing  team  with  whose 
movement  he  must  interfere,  he  forgets  the 
ball  and,  in  his  haste  to  get  at  the  man  oppo- 
site, passes  it  too  quickly.  Again,  take  the 
man  at  the  start  of  a  sprint  who  is  so  concen- 
trated on  his  start  that  he  forgets  the  pistol 
and  jumps  it.  These  are  examples  of  lack  of 
balanced  concentration  or  poise.  In  each  case 
the  man  must  be  evenly  poised  between  two 
impulses.  If  he  swings  too  far  one  way  or 
the  other  he  loses  his  equilibrium  and  fails 
to  do  part  of  his  job.  With  constant  prac- 
tice there  comes  a  perfect  mental  poise  which 
eliminates  this  danger  and  which,  as  it  in- 
creases, so  develops  a  man's  nervous  control 
that  it  helps  him  in  any  work  he  undertakes, 
whether  on  the  field,  in  the  schoolroom  or  in 
the  business  of  after  life. 

Alertness  and  adaptability,  which  go  hand 
in  hand,  are  well  illustrated  by  the  man  in  the 
boat.  If  his  mind  is  not  constantly  alert  and 
both  his  mind  and  body  able  to  adapt  them- 
selves instantly  to  an  increased  stroke,  he  will 
become  rattled  when  the  beat  is  quickened, 
and  by  catching  a  crab  may  throw  out  the 


MENTAL  AND  NERVOUS  CONDITION     45 

whole  boat  and  lose  the  race.  These  are  es- 
sential elements  of  team  work;  without  them 
it  is  impossible  for  men  to  work  together  in 
any  kind  of  athletic  sport. 

In  the  setting-up  exercises  which  were 
given  to  the  men  in  the  services,  this  co-ordina- 
tion was  one  of  the  most  important  objects. 
By  means  of  various  tricks  on  the  part  of  in- 
structors the  men  were  kept  in  a  constant 
state  of  mental  alertness  during  the  exercises. 

For  example,  the  instructor  would  give  a 
command  and  himself  execute  a  totally  dif- 
ferent movement.  An  untrained  man  though 
previously  instructed  to  execute  commands 
only  as  they  were  given  finds  it  impossible  to 
resist  following  the  motions  of  the  instructor. 
Again,  an  instructor  after  for  some  time  giv- 
ing his  commands  in  a  certain  sequence,  sud- 
denly varies  the  sequence.  Among  untrained 
men  he  will  catch  the  majority  of  the  com- 
pany. That  is  because  their  muscular  control 
processes  are  unused  to  sudden  changes  of 
requirement.  With  a  little  training  these  de- 
ficiencies disappear  and  with  the  new  co- 
ordination there  comes  a  new  mental  poise. 
A  man  finds  himself  able  to  adapt  himself  to 


46  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

unexpected  situations.  He  is  able  to  make 
quicker  and  better  decisions.  He  is  less  easily 
embarrassed  or  taken  by  surprise.  He  is 
surer  of  himself.  He  is  better  able  both  to 
give  and  to  obey  orders.  He  is  quicker  in  his 
thought  and  in  his  response. 

Our  American  sport  has  been  criticized  be- 
cause we  specialize  too  much;  because  we  de- 
vote so  much  of  our  time  to  some  particular 
game  to  the  exclusion  of  everything  else. 
Perhaps  some  of  this  criticism  is  true;  there 
is  this  to  be  said  for  our  method,  that  it  trains 
in  the  ability  to  concentrate.  Our  concentra- 
tion on  a  sport  cannot  help  benefitting  the 
mental  and  nervous  condition.  A  man  who 
has  been  capable  of  the  physical  concentration 
necessary  to  carry  him  successfully  through  a 
football  season  has  gained  the  ability  to  con- 
centrate on  anything  in  which  he  is  actuated 
by  a  desire  equally  great. 

There  is  no  reason  why  a  boy  in  school  or 
college  should  not  make  use  of  his  athletic 
work  to  help  him  in  the  classroom.  If  he 
makes  a  regular  schedule  of  work  and  play, 
he  can  do  this  successfully.  If  he  does  his 
studying  in  odd  moments  during  the  day,  his 


MENTAL  AND  NERVOUS  CONDITION    47 

school  work  is  sure  to  suffer.  If  he  studies 
in  the  morning  on  Monday,  in  the  afternoon 
on  Tuesday  and  in  the  evening  on  Wednes- 
day and  plays  the  rest  of  the  time,  he  is  unable 
to  form  any  habit  of  concentration.  He  can- 
not study  well  on  Tuesday  afternoon  because 
on  Monday  afternoon  he  was  on  the  athletic 
field  at  the  same  time  and  his  mind  keeps 
going  back  to  it.  If  he  had  studied  in  the 
afternoon  on  Monday  and  continued  this 
through  the  week,  his  mind  would  soon  have 
got  into  the  habit  of  expecting  study  in  the 
afternoon  and  concentration  would  have  come 
easily. 

There  is  nothing  more  important  in  any 
kind  of  athletic  work,  as,  in  fact,  in  any  kind 
of  training,  mental  or  physical,  than  this  regu- 
larity. Bodily  fitness  is  absolutely  dependent 
on  it,  and  perfect  co-ordination  of  mind  and 
body  is  impossible  without  it.  Definite  times 
for  exercise,  bathing,  eating,  drinking,  study- 
ing, going  to  bed  and  getting  up  should  be 
established  and  rigidly  adhered  to.  Naturally 
it  should  not  be  carried  to  the  point  of 
monotony.  Infinite  variety  may  be  intro- 
duced into  the  details  of  the  day's  work,  the 


48  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

food,  etc.,  but  changes  in  time  should  be 
avoided,  particularly  in  eating  and  sleeping. 

During  the  training  season  it  is  inevitable 
that  the  nerves  of  the  men  on  the  team  expe- 
rience a  good  deal  of  strain  and  are  therefore 
susceptible  to  many  influences  of  which  at 
other  times  they  are  less  sensible.  Little  inci- 
dents may  occur  during  a  game  which  will 
destroy  a  man's  confidence  and  weaken  his 
efficiency.  For  example,  a  man  who  has  run 
a  ball  down  the  field  loses  it  by  a  fumble  on 
the  five-yard  line.  He  is  convinced  that  the 
fumble  was  caused  by  unfair  work  on  the 
part  of  someone  on  the  other  team.  If  he  is 
allowed  to  persist  in  this  belief  it  will  influ- 
ence his  play  during  the  rest  of  the  game.  He 
will  fail  to  do  his  best  because  he  will  feel 
that  whatever  he  accomplishes  will  be  thwarted 
by  dirty  play  which  will  be  unobserved  by  the 
referee. 

Here  is  a  case  where  the  coach  can  give  the 
most  valuable  assistance.  During  the  inter- 
mission he  must  convince  the  man  that  his 
explanation  of  the  fumble  is  no  possible  ex- 
cuse. He  must  point  out  to  him  the  fact  that 
he  got  the  ball  as  far  as  the  five-yard  line 


MENTAL  AND  NERVOUS  CONDITION     49 

before  the  accident  occurred,  and  that  it  will 
be  perfectly  possible  for  him  to  do  it  again 
and  that  to  justify  himself  he  must  do  it 
again. 

Innumerable  little  things  affect  the  nerves 
of  the  players  during  a  game.  Long  delays 
are  always  bad  for  the  nerves.  Unfair  play 
or  real  or  supposed  unfair  ref ereeing  are  gen- 
erally demoralizing.  False  starts  in  track  are 
nervously  tiring.  In  baseball  there  are  a  num- 
ber of  superstitions  which,  whether  ground- 
less or  not,  have  a  definite  psychological 
effect. 

But  it  is  a  curious  thing  that  most  super- 
stitions, however  absurd  they  may  be,  have, 
if  we  can  sufficiently  trace  them  back,  an 
origin  based  on  reason.  Even  the  old  super- 
stition about  crossing  a  funeral,  which  now 
seems  to  have  no  real  connection  with  bad 
luck,  began  during  one  of  the  plagues  in  Eu- 
rope when  the  bodies  were  carried  through 
the  streets  and  there  was  danger  of  contagion 
to  anyone  who  went  near  them. 

The  popular  belief  that  it  is  bad  luck  for  a 
team  to  start  putting  away  the  bats  before  the 
game  is  over  is  based  on  the  real  psychological 


50  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

effect  that  this  has  on  the  pkyers.  It  gives 
the  impression  that  the  game  is  as  good  as 
over  and  implies  a  suggestion  of  impatience 
and  hurry  which  tends  to  make  men  careless. 
The  theory  that  it  is  good  for  a  batter  to 
swing  two  or  three  bats  before  he  goes  up 
is  more  than  a  superstition,  and  in  many  cases 
increases  a  man's  confidence  in  the  same  way 
that  putting  a  shot  helps  one  to  throw  a 
baseball. 

The  psychological  effect  of  bad  conditions 
at  meals  has  already  been  mentioned;  it  can- 
not be  over-emphasized.  Untidiness,  flies, 
badly  cooked  or  half -cold  food ;  heated  discus- 
sions during  meals  and  the  constant  harping 
on  the  same  subject  are  trying  to  the  nerves  of 
men  in  training  and,  if  allowed  to  continue, 
may  cause  the  failure  of  a  good  team. 

The  object  of  this  chapter  is  to  show  how 
closely  the  mind  and  the  body  are  related  in 
all  athletic  work  and  that  the  mental  troubles 
must  be  removed  by  attacking  their  causes. 
In  general,  if  the  strength  is  conserved, 
strenuous  effort  worked  up  to  gradually,  and 
healthful  habits  regularly  followed,  a  bodily 
fitness  will  result  which  will  defy  mental  de- 


MENTAL  AND  NERVOUS  CONDITION    51 

prcssion,  nervous  breakdown,  worry  and  pes- 
simism, and  a  fund  of  mental  and  physical 
energy  will  be  created  which  can  accomplish 
anything.  Successful  athletics  depend  on  the 
combination  of  sound  mind  and  sound  body, 
and  these  two  things  are  intimately  depend- 
ent on  each  other. 


CHAPTER  V 
TAKING  CARE  OF  INJURIES 

THERE  is  no  athletic  sport  in  which  injuries 
do  not  occur.  They  may  come  purely  by  ac- 
cident, they  may  be  caused,  as  in  baseball,  by 
coming  up  to  the  hard  work  too  suddenly 
without  preliminary  strengthening  exercises; 
or,  as  in  football,  from  ignorance,  insufficient 
practice  or  lack  of  confidence.  Whatever  the 
cause  or  degree  of  seriousness  every  injury 
should  have  immediate  attention.  If  this  is 
done  serious  trouble  may  often  be  entirely 
prevented. 

It  is  extremely  important  to  report  all 
injuries,  no  matter  how  insignificant.  The 
slightest  abrasion  of  the  skin  such  as  a  cut 
or  scratch  on  the  hand  or  foot  may  easily 
become  infected  and  cause  blood-poisoning 
and  serious  incapacity,  whereas  simple  treat- 
ment with  iodine  or  other  equally  powerful 
disinfectant  and  bandaging,  if  it  is  done  imme- 
diately, will  kill  any  infection  which  may  have 

52 


TAKING  CARE  OF  INJURIES  53 

already  penetrated,  and  prevent  further 
danger. 

Sprains  are  the  commonest  trouble.  A 
sprain  comes  from  any  wrench  or  twist  about 
a  joint.  The  ankle  sprain  is  perhaps  the  most 
usual  form.  A  good  deal  of  pain  is  followed  by 
swelling  and  "  black  and  blue  "  discoloration. 
Hot  water — the  hotter  the  better — is  the  best 
treatment  and  should  be  frequently  applied  by 
cloths  for  about  an  hour,  after  which  the  joint 
should  be  bandaged  and  kept  in  an  elevated 
position.  Like  all  other  injuries,  sprains 
should  be  treated  by  the  physician  if  he  is 
immediately  available ;  if  not,  the  above  "  first 
aid  "  may  be  used  until  he  can  be  reached. 

The  physician  who  has  the  athletic  work  in 
charge  is  especially  equipped  to  cure  injuries 
in  the  shortest  possible  time.  The  old  theory 
of  rest  and  quiet  as  a  cure-all  for  injuries  is 
not  rapid  enough  for  the  present-day  athlete, 
to  whom  every  day  of  training  is  so  impor- 
tant, so  the  modern  athletic  surgeon  has  per- 
fected a  number  of  quick  methods  of  treatment 
which  are  equally  effective  (though  somewhat 
more  strenuous)  and  do  not  keep  a  man  out 
of  the  game  any  longer  than  is  absolutely 


54  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

necessary.  For  this  reason  it  is  important  for 
a  man  to  report  his  injury  without  delay  that 
he  may  get  this  quick  care  before  it  is  too 
late  and  he  finds  himself  incapacitated  for  a 
long  period.  The  idea  that  "  it  will  get  well 
all  right  by  itself  if  I  go  easy  for  a  day  or 
two  "  often  leads  to  going  easy  for  the  rest 
of  the  season  and  making  yourself  a  dead  loss 
to  the  team. 

Trying  to  care  for  one's  own  injuries,  either 
in  the  belief  that  one  can  do  quicker  work 
than  the  doctor  or  in  the  fear  that  he  may 
order  a  rest  sometimes  leads  to  trouble.  I 
remember  a  boy  who,  having  discovered 
chloroform  liniment  and  used  it  with  good  re- 
sults for  bruises  or  sprains,  came  to  believe  it  a 
panacea  for  all  injuries.  The  next  time  some- 
one got  hurt  in  a  football  game  he  immedi- 
ately recommended  his  newly-found  remedy. 
Unfortunately  the  victim  of  his  well-inten- 
tioned treatment  happened  to  have  abrasions 
of  the  skin  as  well  as  bruises  and  the  awful 
effects  of  it  were  evident  to  everyone  within 
hearing.  The  old  saying  that  a  little  knowl- 
edge is  a  dangerous  thing  is  particularly  ap- 
plicable to  athletic  injuries. 


TAKING  CARE  OF  INJURIES          55 

The  damage  an  injury  may  do  depends 
largely  on  the  nature  of  the  sport  and  the 
time  when  the  injury  is  received.  A  man 
who  throws  out  his  shoulder  during  fall  prac- 
tice in  baseball  can  recover  for  the  spring 
work.  A  man  who  is  injured  in  football  will 
be  unable  to  go  back  during  the  season  if  the 
injury  is  at  all  serious.  Sports  like  football 
and  hockey  have  such  short  seasons  that  they 
give  a  man  little  chance  to  get  back.  Of 
course  an  injury  received  in  one  sport  does 
not  necessarily  incapacitate  for  another.  For 
example,  a  man  with  hands  sore  from  rowing 
may  play  football.  A  man  with  a  slightly 
abraded  foot  may  row  in  a  boat,  and  a  "  glass- 
arm  "  pitcher  might  take  part  in  certain  track 
events.  Of  course  the  most  serious  injuries 
usually  incapacitate  for  everything  and  the 
only  remedy  is  a  long  rest  from  physical 
work. 

Injuries  to  the  knee  are,  from  the  athletic 
standpoint,  the  most  incapacitating.  The 
wrenched  knee  which  football  players  expe- 
rience more  frequently  than  any  others  should 
be  treated  by  a  doctor  from  the  very  first  if 
one  is  available.  If  there  is  delay  in  getting 


56  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

the  doctor  the  knee  should  be  treated  the  same 
as  a  sprain  with  hot  applications  and  then 
bound  as  tightly  as  possible.  It  should  not 
be  further  strained  under  any  circumstances.  A 
bad  wrench  will  generally  necessitate  the  use  of 
crutches  for  a  while  and  may  result  in  a 
severe  case  of  water  on  the  knee,  which  some- 
times leads  to  being  permanently  crippled. 
That  is  why  it  is  so  necessary  to  give  any 
hurt  to  the  knee  immediate  and  expert  atten- 
tion. Another  knee  injury  which  is  not  un- 
usual and  which  sometimes  requires  an  opera- 
tion is  floating  cartilage  caused  by  a  small  piece 
of  the  cartilage  being  torn  loose  by  a  sudden 
violent  movement.  This  is  generally  followed 
by  severe  pain.  The  displacement  must  be  im- 
mediately remedied  by  gently  rotating  the  leg. 
An  operation  may  be  necessary  to  remove  the 
floating  fragment. 

The  ordinary  muscle  strain  may  easily  be 
cured  in  a  few  days.  It  should  be  thoroughly 
massaged  and  then  exercised  moderately  as 
soon  as  possible.  Runners  often  experience 
strained  muscles  at  the  beginning  of  the  sea- 
son, which  cause  pain  along  the  slim  bones 
and  often  between  the  bones  of  the  foot.  Both 


TAKING  CARE  OF  INJURIES  67 

of  these  may  come  from  running  on  a  hard 
track  or  overworking  too  early.  The  former 
is  a  strain  of  the  extensor  muscle  of  the  lower 
leg.  A  day's  rest  and  hot  applications  are 
the  best  remedy.  The  pain  in  the  foot  which 
is  caused  by  a  strain  of  the  ligaments  which 
bind  the  metatarsal  bones  is  not  serious  and 
may  be  due  to  tight  shoes.  Soaking  in  hot 
water  generally  gives  relief. 

Pulled  ligaments  or  pulled  tendons  may  be 
serious.  Of  the  two,  the  pulled  tendon  is  the 
more  important.  It  may  come  from  any  vio- 
lent twist  or  wrench.  It  may  occur  in  the 
thigh,  biceps  or  ankle.  The  first  is  the  most 
common,  especially  in  track  athletics  and  is 
a  rupture  of  the  semitendinous  muscle.  It 
will  generally  cause  a  man  to  fall  if  it 
occurs  while  running.  It  will  require  about 
three  days  in  bed,  the  leg  strapped  with  ad- 
hesive tape.  Hot  water  bottles  and  daily 
massage  are  helpful.  No  man  who  has  pulled 
a  tendon  should  run  again  in  a  race  inside 
of  two  months.  The  "  Achilles  "  tendon  in 
the  foot  is  sometimes  ruptured  by  track  men. 
The  treatment  is  a  tight  strapping  of  the 
ankle. 


58  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

"  Charley-horse  "  is  a  bruise  of  the  sartorius 
muscle  in  the  front  of  the  thigh.  It  is  painful 
but  not  serious  and  should  not  keep  a  man 
out  of  work.  Iodine,  antiphlogistin,  and 
massage  are  all  good.  Capsicum  vaseline  has 
the  effect  of  a  counter-irritant  and  will  often 
cause  a  man  to  forget  the  pain  of  his  "  charley- 
horse."  It  is  a  good  plan,  if  the  man  is  to  go 
into  scrimmage  or  dummy  tackling,  to  protect 
the  bruised  muscle  by  a  pad  or  otherwise 
against  further  injury. 

Sometimes  a  man  will  have  some  injury  or 
deformity  which  is  chronic.  He  may  have  a 
displaced  cartilage  which,  having  become 
chronic,  has  ceased  to  be  sensitive  although  it 
is  still  likely  to  slip  out  of  place.  In  a  case 
like  this  a  man  can  sometimes  play  on  a  team 
without  suffering  any  pain  from  his  disability 
although  it  is  always  a  weakness  and  is  likely 
to  incapacitate  him  at  any  time.  It  is  advisable, 
therefore,  not  to  use  men  with  chronic  injuries 
of  this  sort  if  they  can  be  spared.  There  can  be 
no  doubt  of  the  value  of  massage  and  osteop- 
athy, if  properly  done,  in  the  treatment  of 
athletic  injuries  and  in  general  conditioning. 
But  massage,  to  be  effective,  must  be  done  by 


TAKING  CARE  OF  INJURIES  59 

a  professional  who  has  had  sufficient  training. 
It  must  not  be  confused  with  rubbing  such  as 
is  done  by  trainers.  It  is  a  scientific  treat- 
ment which  requires  a  thorough  knowledge  of 
anatomy.  I  have  known  remarkably  rapid 
and  complete  cures  of  sprains,  muscle  strains, 
etc.,  by  expert  massage  treatment,  taken  in 
time  and  thoroughly  done. 

Osteopathy  is  a  system  of  treatment  which 
depends  on  the  theory  that  by  proper  manipu- 
lation of  the  bones  any  displacement  or  de- 
formity may  be  rectified.  The  osteopaths 
ascribe  most  diseases  to  such  deformity,  and  in 
many  cases  they  have  succeeded  in  positive 
cures.  Athletic  injuries  in  particular  are  sus- 
ceptible to  this  treatment. 

College  athletics  are  generally  presided  over 
by  a  triumvirate  consisting  of  the  physician, 
the  coach  and  the  trainer.  The  physician  has 
general  charge  of  the  health  of  the  men  and 
all  treatment  for  illness,  injury  and  accident. 
The  coach  has  charge  of  the  technical  side  of 
the  game,  superintends  the  daily  practice  and 
lays  down  the  method  or  system  to  be  fol- 
lowed in  all  work.  He  picks  the  men  for  the 
team,  decides  on  the  position  each  man  shall 


60  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

play,  and  is,  in  large  measure,  responsible  for 
the  performance  and  success  of  the  team. 
The  trainer  has  charge  of  the  condition  of  the 
individuals  on  the  team,  watches  their  daily 
performance,  prescribes  special  work  accord- 
ing to  individual  requirement,  regulates  the 
diet,  has  charge  of  the  rubbing  of  the  men, 
etc.  It  is  the  trainer's  duty  to  watch  for 
signs  of  "going  stale,"  to  lay  off  the  men 
who  need  rest,  and  give  specific  exercise  to 
men  who  are  undeveloped  or  deficient  in 
some  particular  detail  of  their  work. 

It  is  immensely  important  for  the  success 
of  the  team  that  these  three  shall  work  to- 
gether in  harmony.  There  is  sometimes  con- 
flict in  judgment  between  the  trainer  and  the 
coach  as  to  the  work  a  man  should  do.  The 
natural  tendency  is  for  the  coach  to  want  all 
his  men  on  deck  for  every  practice,  whereas 
the  trainer  often  inclines  toward  resting  up 
certain  men  in  order  to  help  their  general  con- 
dition or  because  of  some  injury.  If  the  two 
are  naturally  uncongenial,  and  have  little  con- 
fidence in  each  other,  conflicts  of  this  sort  will 
keep  occurring  and  such  differences  in  judg- 
ment are  sure  to  disturb  the  men  on  the  team 


TAKING  CARE  OF  INJURIES  61 

and  weaken  their  confidence  in  both  coach  and 
trainer.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  they  work 
well  together,  each  will  trust  the  other  to  do 
his  part  of  the  work  and  each  will  remain 
within  his  own  province.  In  order  to  warrant 
this  trust  the  trainer  must  be  careful  always 
to  act  according  to  his  own  judgment  after 
careful  examination  and  not  submit  to  the 
judgment  of  the  men.  In  this  way  he  will 
avoid  the  frequent  accusation  by  coaches  that 
trainers  are  letting  the  men  "  put  one  over 
on  them." 

Epidemics  often  spread  rapidly  among 
teams,  especially  when  the  team  is  stale  or 
overworked.  Tonsillitis  is  one  of  the  com- 
monest forms  of  epidemic  because  it  is  a  dis- 
ease to  which  anyone  suffering  from  fatigue 
is  peculiarly  susceptible.  Influenza  is  another 
epidemic  which,  especially  the  last  few  years, 
has  attacked  football  teams.  The  best  method 
of  controlling  an  epidemic  is  by  immediate 
isolation  of  the  first  cases  as  soon  as  the 
symptoms  appear.  If  the  other  members  of 
the  team  are  in  good  condition  a  very  slight 
exposure  will  not  affect  them.  The  chief 
danger  lies  in  concealment  of  their  illness  by 


62  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

the  men  until  after  the  germs  have  been 
spread. 

Good  general  hygiene  and  careful  avoid- 
ance of  infection  are  the  best  preventives. 
Too  much  emphasis  cannot  be  laid  on  clean- 
liness; daily  bathing  by  shower  if  one  is 
available,  otherwise  by  tub  or  sponge  bath. 
The  object  of  the  bath  is  to  remove  the  par- 
ticles of  skin  which  it  is  part  of  the  process 
of  nature  to  throw  off,  to  keep  the  pores  from 
becoming  clogged  so  that  perspiration  is  re- 
tarded and  the  body  is  not  able  to  get  rid  of 
its  waste  products,  and  to  start  the  circula- 
tion. This  last  is  accomplished  largely  by  the 
rubdown  which  follows  the  bath.  This  should 
always  be  vigorous.  One  should  never  fall 
into  the  habit  of  merely  drying  oneself  after 
a  bath.  The  hard  vigorous  rub  should  be  real 
exercise  in  itself  and  should  leave  the  body 
glowing  from  head  to  foot. 

Athletes — especially  schoolboys  whose  train- 
ing is  often  less  carefully  watched  than  that 
of  college  men — sometimes  fall  into  the  bad 
habit  of  staying  too  long  in  a  warm  bath. 
This  is  very  weakening  to  the  entire  system 
and  renders  one  susceptible  to  infection  from 


TAKING  CARE  OF  INJURIES  63 

germs,  and  if  the  temperature  of  the  room  is 
cold  or  if  the  boy  goes  outdoors  soon  after,  he 
is  almost  certain  to  get  chilled  and  catch  a 
cold  or  sore  throat. 

Great  care  must  be  taken  to  see  that  there 
is  always  a  plentiful  supply  of  clean  towels 
on  hand  so  that  each  man  gets  a  clean  towel. 
If  it  is  impossible  to  provide  a  clean  towel  for 
each  man  every  time  he  bathes,  it  should  be 
insisted  on  that  he  keep  his  own  towel  in  his 
locker,  and  never  use  one  which  has  already 
been  used  by  someone  else.  Bad  habits  of 
this  kind  soon  get  started  in  school  dressing 
rooms  unless  carefully  watched,  and  boys  use 
towels  promiscuously  and  without  much  re- 
gard to  their  cleanliness.  This  is  likely  to 
result  in  the  spread  of  a  peculiarly  unpleasant 
skin  disease — a  sort  of  itch — lowering  to  the 
tone  of  the  team  because  it  keeps  the  men 
from  sleeping  and  reduces  their  general  sense 
of  self-respect  and  well-being.  The  same  dis- 
ease may  come  through  wearing  other  men's 
jerseys,  shirts,  drawers,  suspensories,  etc.,  and 
this  should  be  avoided  at  all  times.  It  is  also 
important  that  a  man's  running  suit  or  under- 
clothes and  socks  be  frequently  washed.  This 


64  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

is  especially  necessary  for  socks  to  avoid  sore 
feet. 

Foul  air,  that  is  air  that  has  already  been 
breathed,  besides  containing  an  insufficient 
supply  of  oxygen,  is  sure  to  be  full  of  germs. 
Ill-ventilated  rooms  should  be  avoided  espe- 
cially at  times  when  the  body  is  fatigued  and 
the  resistance  low.  Going  to  the  "  movies  " 
in  the  evening  may  be  dangerous.  The  body 
is  tired  from  the  day's  work  and  is  peculiarly 
susceptible  to  contagion  from  foul  air.  Unless 
the  theater  is  well  ventilated,  the  air  is  gener- 
ally pre-breathed  and  largely  exhausted  of  its 
oxygen.  This  is  also  true  of  crowded  street  cars, 
subways — in  fact,  any  crowd  should  be  avoided 
as  far  as  possible.  So  in  the  week  or  two  be- 
fore the  big  contest  such  exposures  are  risky. 

Colds  are  the  bane  of  most  people's  exist- 
fcnce  especially  in  the  winter,  but  they  should 
not  bother  the  athlete  if  he  takes  care  of  him- 
self and  keeps  in  good  general  condition. 
The  air  baths  mentioned  in  the  first  chapter 
are  a  good  defense  against  colds,  as  they 
render  the  body  less  tender.  Tight  collars, 
mufflers,  superfluous  clothing,  too  many  bed- 
clothes, sleeping  in  a  stuffy  room,  all  these 


TAKING  CARE  OF  INJURIES  65 

are  contributing  causes  of  colds.  Sitting  in 
wet  clothes  or  shoes  is  chilling,  although  both 
may  be  worn  indefinitely  as  long  as  the  body 
is  moving  and  the  blood  kept  in  circulation. 
No  man  has  ever  been  harmed  by  wet  clothes 
so  long  as  he  kept  exercising,  but  sitting  in 
them,  or  sitting  in  underclothes  wet  from 
perspiration  after  exercising,  is  dangerous  and 
one  of  the  things  which  must  be  watched  by 
coaches  and  trainers. 

Never  forget  the  teeth;  they  are  one  of  the 
most  frequent  sources  of  digestive  trouble. 
Teeth  in  which  decay  is  going  on  contaminate 
the  food  which  is  taken  into  the  stomach.  Be- 
sides this,  one  is  likely  to  lose  his  teeth  at  an 
early  age  if  they  are  not  cared  for.  Caring 
for  the  teeth  means  brushing  them  and  having 
them  examined  and  filled  by  a  dentist.  The 
teeth  should  be  brushed  on  getting  up  in  the 
morning,  just  before  going  to  bed  at  night 
and  after  each  meal,  though  powder  or  paste 
should  only  be  used  once  a  day.  A  dentist 
should  be  consulted  every  six  months.  Never 
wait  until  a  toothache  makes  it  necessary. 

If  the  rules  given  here  on  general  hygiene 
are  followed,  as  well  as  those  on  diet  and  sleep 


66  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

in  the  chapters  which  follow,  the  danger  of 
disease  by  contagion  or  infection  will  be 
greatly  reduced.  If  reasonable  precautions 
are  taken,  many  of  the  injuries  described  in 
this  chapter — particularly  muscle  strains  and 
the  "  glass  arm  " — may  be  escaped.  The  pre- 
cautions are  merely  those  of  beginning  prac- 
tice gradually  and  using  a  certain  amount  of 
calisthenic  exercise  to  make  the  muscles  strong 
enough  for  the  work. 

Many  of  the  injuries  are,  of  course,  un- 
avoidable and  I  should  not  want  to  tell  a  man 
to  try  to  avoid  them,  especially  in  football,  as 
that  would  be  one  of  the  surest  ways  of  caus- 
ing them.  A  man  who  goes  into  a  football 
game  with  the  idea  of  trying  to  avoid  injury 
is  almost  certain  to  get  hurt.  Fear  of  injury 
is  the  first  weakness  a  football  player  must 
conquer. 

The  only  way  to  play  football  (or  any 
other  athletic  game,  for  that  matter)  is  to 
play  it  hard  for  the  game's  sake  with  full 
confidence  in  yourself  and  your  team  and  no 
thought  in  your  mind  of  danger — or  defeat. 
If  you  have  fear  (as  most  men  do),  control 
it.  Controlled  fear  is  as  valuable  in  athletics 


TAKING  CARE  OF  INJURIES          67 

as  natural  fearlessness  and  far  more  valuable 
to  the  athlete's  character.  A  normally  healthy 
boy  who  keeps  his  condition  good  and  his 
mind  on  the  game,  plays  hard  and  obeys  the 
orders  of  his  coach  and  trainer,  should  be  able 
to  finish  his  athletic  career  with  little  injury, 
sickness,  or  anything  but  healthful  effects. 


CHAPTER  VI 
DIET 

THE  subject  of  diet  has  been  so  discussed 
and  rediscussed  and  theorized  about  that  if 
one  tries  to  study  it  carefully  he  soon  be- 
comes confused  by  the  conflict  of  dietary 
creeds.  In  athletics  diet  has  gone  through  a 
long  series  of  changes  and  has  probably  ar- 
rived at  its  healthiest  stage.  The  present  gen- 
erally accepted  theory  is  that  if  a  diet  is 
simple  and  nourishing  it  need  not  be  much 
restricted.  Of  course  there  are  many  be- 
lievers in  vegetarianism  and  cereal  food,  and 
while  sometimes  men  seem  to  succeed  in  cer- 
tain kinds  of  strength  tests  under  this  kind 
of  diet,  it  has  never  had  any  vogue  among 
that  now  expert  class  with  us,  the  athletic 
trainer.  It  has  always  seemed  that  if  a  man 
were  not  intended  by  nature  to  eat  meat,  he 
would  not  have  been  endowed  with  such  a 
strong  natural  desire  for  it.  Also,  while  good 
results  have  been  obtained  in  work  with  dumb- 

68 


DIET  69 

bells  requiring  considerable  endurance  by  the 
use  of  strict  vegetarian  diet,  many  have  ques- 
tioned whether  it  gives  men  as  much  of  what 
we  call  "  pep  ";  ready  energy,  alertness,  speed 
and  constant  desire  for  activity. 

Years  ago  meat  formed  a  far  larger  part 
of  the  athlete's  menu  than  it  does  today.  At 
most  of  the  training  tables  of  that  day  there 
were  almost  no  vegetables  except  rice.  The 
meat  was  generally  cooked  very  little,  the 
idea  being  that  "  raw  meat "  was  strength- 
ening. Almost  no  liquid  was  permitted.  The 
worst  suffering  of  the  training  season  was 
caused  by  the  almost  constant  thirst  the  men 
had  to  endure.  What  water  they  were  al- 
lowed contained  oatmeal.  Sweets  of  all  kinds, 
everything,  in  fact,  containing  sugar,  was  for- 
bidden. 

The  evils  of  this  diet  became  evident  when 
it  came  to  be  more  carefully  studied.  The 
lack  of  vegetables  and  fruit  predisposed  to 
constipation,  the  lack  of  water  caused  loss  in 
weight  and  exhaustion,  and  the  tabu  on  sugar 
removed  a  valuable  stimulant.  Furthermore, 
the  meals  were  so  unattractive  and  had  so 
little  variety  that  the  men  ate  little  and,  as 


70  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

a  consequence,  were  under-nourished.  Besides 
this,  they  did  not  provide  at  all  for .  indi- 
vidual differences  of  taste  and  idiosyncrasies 
(for  "one  man's  meat  is  another's  poison"), 
because  there  was  so  little  choice. 

I  remember  visiting  a  university  a  number 
of  years  ago  in  the  middle  of  the  football 
season.  I  noticed  that  the  team  generally 
went  to  pieces  in  the  second  half;  the  men 
showed  signs  of  exhaustion,  lack  of  energy 
and  interest  in  the  game.  I  immediately 
turned  my  attention  to  the  training  table.  I 
noticed  in  the  first  place  that  the  room  was 
unpleasant,  the  table  untidy  and  not  clean. 
The  food  was  inadequate.  For  lunch,  for 
example,  the  men  got  nothing  but  cold  roast 
beef  and  oatmeal  water.  I  saw  that  they 
took  no  pleasure  in  the  meal  and  that  some 
of  them  left  a  good  deal  of  their  meat  uneaten 
on  their  plates.  The  day  of  the  next  game 
I  advised  a  change  of  menu.  It  included  a 
nicely  cooked  mutton  chop,  baked  potato  and 
ice  cream,  and  was  decently  served.  The  ef- 
fect on  the  men's  spirits  was  immediate.  They 
ate  heartily  and  with  pleasure,  the  conversa- 
tion was  cheerful  and  they  got  up  satisfied, 


DIET  71 

optimistic  and  ready,  mentally  and  physically, 
for  the  game.  The  game  came  out  success- 
fully and,  under  the  changed  regime  which 
followed,  the  rest  of  the  season  was  satisfac- 
tory and  the  team  "  came  back "  with  a 
strong  finish. 

Napoleon  said  that  an  army  moves  on  its 
stomach;  it  is  as  true  of  any  athletic  team. 
Under-nourished,  hungry  men  lose  their  en- 
durance and,  what  is  nearly  as  important,  their 
good  disposition.  A  man  who  is  discontented 
with  his  food  soon  becomes  discontented  with 
everything;  loses  his  optimism,  cheerfulness 
and  ability  to  overcome  obstacles  and  resist 
opposition.  The  irritating,  fretful  discontent 
that  comes  from  a  poor  diet  points  the  in- 
evitable way  to  failure. 

College  athletics  have  developed  a  class  of 
experts  who  are  known  as  trainers.  These  have 
come  to  see  the  error  in  the  old  methods  and  to 
realize  that  an  average  man  in  good  condition 
can  eat  most  simple  foods  without  danger  and, 
in  his  eating,  needs  only  to  avoid  excesses. 
Overeating,  crowding  the  stomach  with  more 
than  it  can  digest  in  a  reasonable  time,  causes  a 
man  to  go  out  on  the  field  with  a  mass  of  un- 


72  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

digested  food  in  his  stomach  which  does  not 
help  his  day's  practice.  Conversely  the  prac- 
tice still  further  impedes  his  digestion.  Eat- 
ing too  much  sweets,  especially  if  taken  in  the 
early  part  of  the  meal  or  between  meals,  is 
bad  for  digestion  and  causes  a  loss  of  appetite 
for  the  other,  more  nourishing  food.  An  ath- 
lete should  remember  that  nutritive  value  is 
not  necessarily  dependent  on  quantity.  The 
dietitians  have  figured  out  a  system  of  calories 
to  show  the  relative  fuel  values  of  various 
foods.  Some  of  the  results  have  been  inter- 
esting. For  example,  it  has  been  found  that 
a  lunch  consisting  of  twelve  crackers  and  a 
pint  of  milk  contains  as  many  calories  as 
one  which  includes  consomme,  roast  beef,  po- 
tato, peas,  stewed  corn  and  sliced  pineapple. 
It  is  on  results  like  these  that  some  men  have 
based  vegetarian  theories.  A  lunch  of  crack- 
ers and  milk  is  an  excellent  one  for  the  busi- 
ness man  who  sits  in  an  office  and  whose  life 
is  sedentary,  but  for  the  man  who  is  under- 
going intensive  training  for  hard  physical 
work  it  is  not  sufficient. 

There  is  a  dietitian  in  most  colleges  who 
can    easily    work    out    a    menu    based    on 


DIET  73 

the  proper  amount  of  calories  and  vita- 
mines. 

In  discussing  the  disadvantages  of  the  old 
"  raw  meat "  diet  I  mentioned  individual 
idiosyncrasies.  This  is  an  important  consid- 
eration and  the  menu  should  be  large  enough 
to  provide  a  choice  for  everyone.  For  exam- 
ple, there  are  some  men  who  cannot  eat  straw- 
berries without  ill  effects.  Such  a  man  should 
be  able  to  have  some  other  sort  of  fruit  as  a 
substitute  and  not  be  deprived  of  the  benefit 
the  other  men  are  getting  from  the  fruit 
juices.  There  are  others  who  cannot  eat 
onions;  peppers  and  cucumbers  are  poison  to 
many  people.  If  there  are  always  more  than 
one  vegetable,  a  man  does  not  have  to  go  with- 
out entirely  because  of  his  individual  peculi- 
arity. 

Fruit  is  one  of  the  most  valuable  articles 
of  diet,  raw  or  cooked,  fresh  or  preserved.  It 
is  a  valuable  aid  to  the  proper  functioning  of 
the  intestines  and  contains  acid  and  sugar  in 
good  proportions  and  provides  the  natural 
salts  the  body  requires.  Prunes  may  be  eaten 
profitably  at  any  meal;  they  are  particularly 
good  at  breakfast,  but  they  have  been  so  over- 


74  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

worked  that  they  are  hardly  popular  with  the 
men  except  semi-occasionally. 

As  I  have  already  mentioned,  soiled  table 
linen,  plates,  knives  and  forks  insufficiently 
washed  and  all  evidences  of  untidiness  make 
meals  unappetizing  and  are  not  good  for  the 
disposition.  The  presence  of  any  sort  of 
vermin  such  as  cockroaches,  water-bugs,  etc., 
in  the  dining-room  is  always  unpleasant,  and 
flies  are  not  only  irritating  but  dangerous  in 
spreading  disease.  The  dining-room  should 
be  large,  light  and  well- ventilated  (the  latter 
is  especially  important),  and  as  free  from 
cooking  smells  as  possible.  The  tablecloth 
and  napkins  should  be  frequently  changed. 
If  this  is  not  practicable,  it  is  better  to  serve 
the  meals  on  a  bare  table. 

Right  drinking  is  extremely  important. 
From  eight  to  ten  glasses  a  day  are  essential 
to  good  health,  especially  if  exercise  is  fre- 
quent. It  assists  the  excretory  processes — 
that  is,  the  carrying  off  of  waste  by  means  of 
the  skin,  the  kidneys  and  the  bowels.  Most 
of  this  should  be  taken  outside  of  meal-times — 
not  that  food  will  not  digest  when  mixed  with 
water,  but  athletes  are  likely  to  drink  ice  water 


DIET  75 

with  meals  and  really  to  wash  down  every 
mouthful  of  food. 

Of  course  it  is  hard  to  lay  down  an  absolute 
rule  against  drinking  water  at  meals.  There 
are  times  when  it  may  be  necessary.  For 
example,  suppose  a  team  is  off  on  a  trip  and 
is  unable  to  get  a  drink  during  the  morning. 
They  lunch  perhaps  at  a  hotel  and  the  waiter 
fills  their  glasses.  They  are  thirsty  from  the 
morning's  train  ride  and  naturally  want  to 
drink.  Under  these  circumstances  it  would 
not  be  advisable  to  prevent  them  from  doing 
so.  But  on  the  whole  it  is  wiser  to  drink  very 
little  with  the  meals.  This  is  not,  as  used 
to  be  supposed,  because  the  water  dilutes  the 
digestive  juices  and  makes  digestion  more  dif- 
ficult; it  is  because  if  a  man  drinks  a  lot  of 
water  it  fills  up  his  capacity  and  he  is  likely 
to  eat  less.  In  this  way  it  deprives  him  of 
some  of  his  nutrition.  Under  no  circum- 
stances should  the  water  be  iced  but  should 
be  taken  at  the  temperature  of  the  room. 

Hurrying  at  meals  must  be  strictly  avoided. 
It  is  sure  to  cause  indigestion  and  rob  the 
meal  of  much  of  its  nutritive  value.  The 
stomachs  of  some  animals  are  so  constructed 


76  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

that  they  can  digest  bolted  food,  but  the 
human  stomach  demands  proper  mastication 
and  salivation  and  will  simply  pass  on  un- 
chewed  food  to  the  intestines,  which  carry  it 
off  in  its  undigested  state.  This  prevents 
nutrition  from  the  food  and  often  causes  pain 
in  the  stomach  and  intestines,  clogging  of  the 
passages  and,  if  it  is  not  properly  eliminated, 
may  cause  auto-intoxication.  Starchy  foods 
such  as  potatoes  and  many  other  vegetables, 
bread,  cereals,  etc.,  are  acted  on  by  the  saliva, 
which  has  the  effect  of  converting  the  starch 
into  sugar,  the  first  stage  in  the  digestion 
of  this  food.  Thorough  chewing  helps  this 
process  and  is  therefore  necessary  to  complete 
digestion. 

Another  effect  of  hurry  is  the  nervous  ef- 
fect. Any  upset  or  restless  mental  condition 
at  meals  is  sure  to  arrest  digestion.  This  is 
why  it  is  so  important  to  keep  a  cheerful 
atmosphere  during  meal-time  and  especially 
to  prevent  heated  arguments.  There  is  prob- 
ably no  subject  on  which  arguments  can  wax 
more  violent  than  athletics,  and  as  boys 
nearly  always  take  athletics  very  seriously  and 
are  intense  in  their  interest,  most  discussions 


DIET  ?7 

of  this  sort  which  arise  among  a  group  of 
them  soon  reach  the  boiling  point. 

Arguments  in  which  there  is  strong  feeling 
nearly  always  destroy  the  appetite  during  a 
meal  and  hurt  the  digestion.  It  is  a  common 
thing  to  see  a  man  get  up  after  a  violent  alter- 
cation of  words  leaving  his  food  untouched  on 
his  plate.  He  has  lost  interest  in  it,  his  sys- 
tem in  its  excited  state  rebels  against  it.  If 
he  should  force  himself  to  eat  it  his  digestive 
functions  would  probably  refuse  to  work 
upon  it. 

Anger  produces  a  definite  poison  in  the  sys- 
tem which  often  results  in  illness.  But  the 
effect  of  it  on  the  digestion  is  to  cause  tempo- 
rary cessation.  This  causes  food  to  be  passed 
into  the  intestines  before  it  is  ready  for  them, 
thus  impeding  the  natural  movement  of  the 
bowels  and  generating  toxins.  It  is  undoubt- 
edly the  most  harmful  of  all  the  emotions. 

This  chapter  on  diet  has  been  intended  pri- 
marily to  show  that  the  old  ideas  of  what  an 
athlete  should  eat  are,  for  the  most  part,  ex- 
ploded and  proved  to  have  been  wrong;  that 
the  average  healthy  boy  can  eat  almost  any- 
thing in  moderation  and  need  only  avoid  ex- 


78  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

cesses  and  irregularity;  that  how  you  eat 
counts  more  than  what  you  eat,  and  that  psy- 
chological influences  on  the  digestion  are  too 
immediate  and  important  to  be  ignored.  The 
boy  who  eats  at  regular  hours,  drinks  little 
with  his  meals  but  much  between,  is  sur- 
rounded during  meal-time  with  cleanliness, 
light  and  air  and  congenial  companions,  who 
never  eats  between  meals  and  never  "  stuffs  " 
himself,  need  not  worry  about  the  details  of 
his  diet. 

Although  the  point  has  already  been 
brought  up,  the  question  of  eating  between 
meals  and  especially  filling  up  on  sweets, 
candy,  soft  drinks,  etc.,  cannot  be  too  much 
dwelt  upon.  This  applies  not  only  to  the 
training  season;  it  is  nearly  as  important  at 
all  times  of  the  year.  It  often  happens,  espe- 
cially among  schoolboys,  that  when  the  season 
stops,  the  members  of  the  team  who  have  been 
keeping  strict  rules  of  diet,  etc.,  feel  it  incum- 
bent upon  them  to  break  training  as  violently 
as  possible  by  an  orgy  of  sweets,  pop,  soda 
fountain  drinks  and  candy.  If  they  continue 
for  any  length  of  time  to  indulge  themselves 
in  this  way  and  their  eating  becomes  irregular, 


DIET  79 

they  will  so  break  down  their  digestion  that  it 
is  very  likely  they  will  not  recover  by  the  fol- 
lowing season.  Some  boys  have  incapacitated 
themselves  for  life  by  dissipation  of  this 
kind,  bringing  on  diabetes,  ulcerated  stomach, 
chronic  indigestion  and  many  other  diseases. 
The  warning  to  avoid  this  cannot  be  taken  too 
seriously. 

It  is  customary  in  some  colleges  for  the 
men  to  "  eat  round,"  especially  in  the  Fresh- 
man year,  before  they  become  a  member  of 
any  fraternity  or  club;  that  is,  they  do  not 
sign  up  definitely  at  any  one  eating  place. 
The  result  is  that  most  of  their  meals  are 
eaten  at  the  various  lunch  counters  with  which 
college  towns  generally  abound.  The  food 
is  almost  always  good  at  these  places  and 
cleanly  and  attractively  served.  But  there  are 
a  number  of  serious  drawbacks  to  this  kind 
of  living,  and  they  generally  so  tell  on  a  man 
that  he  is  obliged,  after  a  few  months'  trial, 
to  give  up  either  the  lunch  rooms  or  his  health. 
In  the  first  place,  if  you  eat  at  these  places 
you  generally  have  no  regularity  of  meal 
hour.  You  are  likely  to  eat  rapidly  because 
there  is  always  an  atmosphere  of  noise  and 


80  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

hurry,  and  the  seating  accommodations  (if 
any)  are  usually  not  particularly  comfortable. 
Then  there  is  a  tendency  to  eat  mostly  cold 
food  such  as  sandwiches,  salads,  pie,  ice  cream, 
or  "  hot  dogs,"  and  other  rich  and  indigestible 
dishes.  But  the  food  itself  is  not  the  great 
disadvantage  of  this  method.  It  is  the  ir- 
regularity, the  lack  of  habit,  the  constant 
change,  the  hurry,  the  psychological  effect 
that  causes  the  trouble.  No  athlete  who  ex- 
pects to  achieve  real  success  should  ever  allow 
himself  to  fall  into  this  habit — or  lack  of  habit 
— even  out  of  training  season.  It  is  certain 
to  weaken  his  vitality  and  undermine  the 
foundations  of  his  health. 


CHAPTER  VII 
SLEEP 

OF  all  the  factors  in  making  a  successful 
athlete  and  keeping  him  in  trim,  none  is  more 
important  than  sleep.  A  man  may  keep 
training  rigidly  in  other  respects;  he  may 
limit  his  diet,  regulate  his  exercise  and  his 
personal  habits  with  the  greatest  care,  follow 
the  most  approved  methods  and  work  under 
the  most  expert  coaches  and  trainers;  with 
insufficient  sleep  he  will  be  unable  to  finish 
the  season.  The  effect  will  be  not  merely  a 
nervous  or  mental  one,  it  will  be  a  wearing 
away  physically,  loss  of  weight,  inability  to 
perform  the  required  work,  piling  up  of 
fatigue  poisons  in  the  system,  and,  in  the 
end,  going  stale. 

Primarily  sleep  repairs.  During  the  day 
there  is  an  excess  of  waste.  The  combustion, 
circulation,  movement  and  friction  of  the 
body  cause  accumulations  of  burnt-out  fuel, 
impurities  and  the  wearing  away  of  parts 

81 


82  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

exactly  as  in  an  engine  which  operates  con- 
tinuously for  long  periods.  The  engineer 
must,  every  little  while,  slow  it  down,  oil  it, 
overhaul  and  repair  certain  parts,  shake  down 
his  furnace,  etc.  The  same  is  true  of  the 
body.  During  sleep  the  human  engine  slows 
down  and  is  repaired,  the  blood  purified,  cer- 
tain waste  matter  removed  and  certain  parts 
built  up  where  they  are  broken  or  worn. 

During  sleep  more  oxygen  is  absorbed  but 
the  heart  beats  more  slowly.  In  this  way  the 
blood  becomes  purified  but  its  pump  is  able  to 
rest.  The  work  of  the  stomach  and  intestines, 
while  it  continues,  is  slower.  The  skin  excretes 
waste  matter  through  sweating.  The  acid 
which  is  created  by  the  working  of  the  muscles, 
and  which  in  time  will  so  accumulate  that  it 
will  stop  muscle  movement  entirely,  is  elimi- 
nated in  sleep.  Tissues  broken  down  by  the 
wear  of  the  day's  work  are  repaired.  The  fa- 
tigue poisons  in  the  blood  are  got  rid  of. 

These  details  are  given  simply  to  show  that 
there  are  certain  very  definite  functions  which 
sleep  performs  in  the  body  and  that  these 
functions  are  more  important  to  the  athlete 
than  to  anyone  else,  because  they  are  the  func- 


SLEEP  83 

tions  which  are  essential  to  bodily  fitness.  It 
is  the  athlete's  primary  object  to  be  at  all 
times  capable  of  exerting  his  physical  power 
to  the  utmost  in  the  most  efficient  manner, 
with  the  least  friction.  No  automobile  racer 
would  think  of  taking  a  car  into  a  race  whose 
cylinders  were  clogged  with  carbon,  cooling 
system  stopped  up  with  mud  and  gasoline 
supply  full  of  water.  No  more  should  an 
athlete  enter  a  race  or  game  with  his  blood 
full  of  the  waste  products  of  fatigue. 

In  the  matter  of  sleep,  age  is  an  important 
factor.  The  younger  a  boy  is,  the  more  sleep 
he  should  have.  This  is  because  he  is  grow- 
ing and  growth  depends  more  on  sleep  than 
on  anything  else.  It  is  during  sleep  that  most 
actual  growth  takes  place.  After  a  boy  has 
got  his  growth  he  can  get  along  with  less 
sleep,  but  he  must  not  anticipate  or  misjudge 
this  point.  Many  boys  believe  that  at  sixteen 
or  seventeen  they  have  got  their  growth  be- 
cause they  are  as  tall  as  they  believe  they  ever 
will  be.  They  do  not  realize  that,  having  at- 
tained this  height,  nature  requires  a  great  deal 
of  time  to  adjust  the  rest  of  the  body  to  it  and 
fill  the  boy  out  in  his  proper  proportions,  as 


84  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

well  as  to  give  him  a  chance  to  recuperate  from 
the  effort  of  his  growth  in  height. 

At  seventeen  nature  demands  nine,  or  bet- 
ter, ten  hours  of  sleep  every  night.  If  the 
.boy  is  in  training  for  any  kind  of  athletic 
sport  this  amount  of  sleep  is  essential  to  his 
success.  Yet  this  seems  to  be  the  thing  there 
is  the  greatest  tendency  to  neglect.  A  boy 
will  often  be  strictly  careful  of  his  diet  and 
conscientious  in  his  work,  yet  stay  up  at  night 
far  into  the  time  which  belongs  rightfully  to 
sleep.  Another  thing  boys  are  weak  in  is 
regularity  of  sleeping  schedule.  The  greatest 
benefit  from  sleep  comes  in  making  it  a  habit, 
running  it  on  schedule  like  the  various  details 
of  the  day's  work,  so  that  the  body  gets  sleep 
at  the  time  it  expects  it.  A  boy  who  keeps 
his  sleeping  habits  regular  will  have  little 
trouble  with  insomnia. 

This  brings  us  to  a  point  that  generally 
comes  up  after  mid-season.  The  first  part  of 
the  training  period  the  men  generally  rest 
well.  The  game  is  in  its  early  stages;  there 
has  been  no  strenuous  competition,  no  impor- 
tant event.  In  the  latter  half  of  the  season, 
on  the  other  hand,  there  are  many  disturbing 


SLEEP  85 

influences.  Natural  worry  connected  with  the 
big  contests  begins  to  interfere  with  sleep. 
Nervousness,  fear  of  the  men  lest  they  fail  to 
do  their  job  properly,  worry  over  classroom 
work  and  countless  other  mental  anxieties 
tend  to  keep  the  men  awake  and  tossing  in 
bed,  far  into  the  night.  A  boy  whose  im- 
agination is  vivid  and  active  will  often  picture 
elaborate  and  impossible  situations  to  himself 
when  he  is  lying  awake  at  night  and  will  fol- 
low a  long  train  of  thought  with  intense  seri- 
ousness through  a  series  of  imaginary  inci- 
dents which  he  would  laugh  at  in  the  daytime. 
He  will  frequently  picture  himself  playing  in 
a  game  or  running  in  a  race  and  either  winning 
conspicuous  success  or  falling  down  in  out- 
rageous failure. 

The  worst  of  this  sort  of  worry  is  that  it 
keeps  the  mind  so  constantly  excited  that,  in- 
stead of  lying  quietly  in  a  relaxed  state,  a 
boy  generally  keeps  his  muscles  rigid,  changes 
frequently  from  side  to  side,  tries  a  dozen 
different  positions,  and  is  generally  restless 
and  uncomfortable.  Thus  he  robs  himself  of 
that  rest  which,  even  without  sleep,  he  would 
get  if  his  mind  and  body  were  quietly  relaxed. 


86  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

This  is  an  important  point  to  remember,  that 
lying  still  with  the  muscles  relaxed  is  an  ex- 
ceedingly valuable  rest  to  the  body.  It  is 
often  possible  consciously  to  relax  the  muscles, 
and  this  process  is  generally  conducive  to 
sleep. 

Of  course  at  times  like  these  outside  irrita- 
tions have  a  good  field  to  work  on.  Noise, 
street  lights  or  moonlight  shining  on  the  face, 
men  talking  in  other  parts  of  the  building, 
people  going  up  and  down  stairs,  mosquitoes, 
a  hundred  little  things  which  ordinarily  might 
be  unnoticed  are  peculiarly  nerve-racking  to 
a  troubled  mind.  We  all  know  how  it  feels 
when,  after  much  tossing  and  turning  and 
worry,  we  have  finally  composed  ourselves,  re- 
laxed, and  sleep  is  on  the  way,  to  hear  sud- 
denly the  buzzing  of  a  mosquito  close  to  our 
ears.  If  these  things  are  allowed  to  annoy 
men  in  training,  it  is  quite  inexcusable  because 
they  are  easy  enough  to  avoid. 

Most  school  and  college  dormitories  are  not 
on  busy  streets  and  street  noises  anyway  are 
not  generally  causes  of  annoyance  to  people 
who  are  used  to  them.  Noise  in  the  dormitory 
can  certainly  be  prevented  by  proper  enforce- 


SLEEP  87 

ment  of  discipline  and  by  impressing  on  the 
others  the  necessity  of  sleep  for  the  team.  If 
it  cannot,  the  men  should  be  removed  to  an- 
other building  where  they  can  be  by  themselves. 
Mosquitoes  can  be  kept  away  by  screens  or 
mosquito  bars  such  as  are  used  in  the  Army  or 
camping,  which  can  be  obtained  at  any  Army 
and  Navy  or  sporting  goods  store.  The  only 
objection  to  these  is  that,  fitting  as  they  do, 
closely  over  the  bed,  they  keep  a  certain  amount 
of  air  off  the  bed.  This  is  really  better  than 
being  troubled  by  mosquitoes,  for  in  the  latter 
case  a  man  is  generally  obliged  to  defend  him- 
self by  pulling  the  sheet  over  his  head  which 
causes  him  to  breathe  pre-breathed  air.  The 
mosquito  bar  should  be  the  last  resort;  if  the 
screens  are  effective  without  it,  so  much  the 
better.  Flies  in  the  early  morning  in  the 
spring  season  are  another  cause  of  annoyance 
and  curtail  sleep.  These  can  sometimes  be 
avoided  by  keeping  the  room  dark.  Lotions, 
etc.,  which  claim  to  drive  away  mosquitoes 
and  flies  are  generally  quite  worthless  and 
more  unpleasant  than  the  mosquitoes  because 
of  their  disagreeable  smell. 

KThere  are  many  other  discomforts  which, 


88  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

slight  as  they  might  seem,  at  other  times  are 
well  to  eliminate  during  training.  Among 
these  are  short  sheets,  badly  made  up  beds, 
uncomfortable  pillows,  sheets  not  changed 
often  enough,  creaking  beds,  too  much  light, 
not  enough  air,  etc.  Sleeping  naked  or  in  the 
underclothes  are  both  bad;  the  first  because 
of  the  danger  of  getting  cold,  the  latter  be- 
cause it  is  not  clean.  There  has  been  some 
discussion  as  to  the  best  side  of  the  body  to 
sleep  on,  but  this  makes  little  difference 
except  that  sleeping  on  the  back  generally 
causes  uncomfortable  dreams.  Too  many  bed- 
clothes is  weakening  and  makes  the  body 
tender.  A  man  who  is  constantly  troubled 
with  restlessness  should  be  put  by  himself  and 
not  made  to  sleep  in  a  dormitory  with  other 
men  where  such  sounds  as  snoring  or  men 
talking  in  their  sleep  are  likely  to  keep  him 
awake. 

Fresh  air  is  immensely  important  in  sleep- 
ing quarters — all  you  can  get  of  it;  it  makes 
no  difference  how  cold  it  is.  It  is  easy  to 
keep  warm  even  in  mid-winter  with  proper 
covering.  To  sleep  in  a  room  with  the  win- 
dows shut  is  robbing  a  man  of  one  of  the  most 


SLEEP  89 

important  benefits  of  sleep,  the  purification 
of  the  blood  by  the  oxygen  he  takes  into  his 
lungs.  Then  it  causes  him  to  breathe  again 
air  that  he  or  someone  else  has  already 
breathed;  in  other  words  he  is  obliged  to  take 
into  his  body  poisonous  matter  which  has  been 
rejected.  The  lungs  are  as  much  a  part  of 
the  excretory  system  as  are  the  kidneys,  the 
bowels  and  the  skin;  they  all  throw  out  poi- 
sonous and  waste  products  which  the  body 
cannot  make  use  of.  If  we  allow  these  poi- 
sons to  enter  the  body  again  in  a  still  more 
concentrated  form  we  are  injuring  and  in- 
sulting our  organs.  This  is  just  what  we  are 
doing  when,  instead  of  taking  fresh  air  into 
our  lungs,  we  breathe  the  carbon  dioxide  gas 
which  they  have  just  rejected. 

Breathing  through  the  mouth  is  a  bad  habit 
which  generally  comes  from  adenoids,  en- 
larged tonsils,  chronic  catarrh  or  other  phys- 
ical causes  most  of  which  can  be  removed  by 
simple  operations  or  treatment.  Our  nose 
was  given  us  to  breathe  through  and  is  espe- 
cially equipped  with  means  for  preventing 
impurities  from  entering  the  lungs.  Some 
animals,  such  as  the  horse,  for  instance,  can- 


90  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

not  breathe  except  through  the  nose.  Breath- 
ing through  the  mouth  when  asleep  is  the 
principal  cause  of  snoring.  It  also  causes 
uncomfortable  dryness  of  the  mouth  and 
throat.  Spraying  the  nose  before  going  to 
bed  with  an  atomizer  or  nebulizer  and  oil  spray 
will  make  it  possible  to  breathe  comfortably 
unless  adenoids  are  present.  Even  such 
heroic  measures  as  putting  adhesive  tape  over 
the  mouth  are  often  used  with  the  result  of 
forming  a  nose-breathing  habit. 

It  would  be  a  good  thing,  of  course,  if  we 
could  strike  at  the  root  of  the  whole  insomnia 
trouble  and  eliminate  the  worry  that  keeps 
men  awake.  But  this  is  not  easy  to  do.  It 
is  the  simplest  thing  in  the  world  to  tell  some- 
one not  to  worry,  that  worry  is  useless,  that 
man  is  more  efficient  without  it  and  the  thou- 
sand other  platitudes  we  hear  every  day. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  of  the  bad  effects  of 
it:  we  have  seen  some  of  them  in  the  chapter 
on  nervous  and  mental  condition  and  some- 
thing of  its  effect  on  digestion  in  the  last 
chapter.  But  to  tell  a  man  not  to  worry  does 
not  prevent  him  from  doing  so.  He  may  not 
have  complete  enough  command  over  himself 


SLEEP  91 

to  be  able  to  control  his  thoughts  at  will. 
Yet  there  are  a  few  simple  rules  which,  if 
followed,  predispose  the  mind  to  relaxation 
and  tend  so  to  induce  sleep  that  small  wor- 
ries are  easily  kept  out. 

First:  never  go  to  bed  immediately  after 
studying.  A  mind  which,  for  several  hours, 
has  been  tackling  difficult  problems  has  got  so 
in  the  habit  of  it  that  it  tends  to  keep  on 
doing  the  same  thing.  When  there  are  no 
more  problems  given  to  it,  it  begins  to  create 
them  for  itself.  There  are  many  boys  who, 
after  worrying  for  several  hours  over  some 
particularly  complex  work  in  geometry  or 
algebra,  give  it  up  and  go  to  bed  with  angles 
and  equations  dancing  before  their  eyes. 
Sleep  comes  late  to  boys  in  this  condition. 
They  may  not  continue  to  pursue  their  par- 
ticular problem.  They  may  start,  in  imagina- 
tion, cutting  a  baseball  diamond  into  triangles 
and  applying  theorems  to  them.  Thence  they 
get  on  baseball  and  athletics  and  worry; 
begins. 

A  heated  discussion  just  before  going  to 
bed  is  sure  to  persist  in  a  boy's  mind  and  keep 
him  wakeful.  He  thinks  of  all  the  convinc- 


92  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

ing  arguments  he  might  have  used,  becomes 
impatient  because  it  is  too  late;  then  restless- 
ness sets  in  and  sleep  is  miles  away.  If  his 
discussion  has  ended  in  angry  dispute  he  works 
himself  up  into  an  even  greater  rage  and 
makes  plans  for  getting  even  with  his  oppo- 
nent in  some  way.  The  more  he  thinks  of  it 
the  angrier  he  gets.  This  is  the  worst  pos- 
sible condition  to  go  to  bed  in  because  anger 
not  only  keeps  away  sleep  but  is  very  weak- 
ening to  the  entire  system,  and  may  result  in 
partial  incapacity  the  next  day  if  it  is  allowed 
to  go  too  far. 

Of  course  it  is  inevitable  that  such  things 
occur.  A  boy  has  to  study  in  the  evening 
and  it  is,  really,  the  best  time  for  him  to  do 
it.  Arguments  are  more  likely  to  occur  in 
the  evening  than  at  any  other  time.  But  the 
point  to  remember  is  that  just  before  going 
to  bed  a  little  time  should  be  taken  to 
quiet  down  and  relax  the  mind.  A  quiet 
friendly  game  of  some  sort  which  takes 
little  mental  effort — not  bridge  or  chess — 
is  the  best  thing  for  this  sort  of  relaxation. 
Reading  a  light  short  story  is  good  prepa- 
ration for  sleep;  better  than  a  novel  be- 


SLEEP  93 

cause  it  can  be  quickly  finished  and  there  is 
no  sense  of  suspense  in  leaving  off. 

There  are  countless  other  causes  of  insom- 
nia; healthy  boys  are  less  subject  to  them 
than  older  people.  Among  others  are  indi- 
gestion, constipation,  after-effects  of  dissipa- 
tion, excessive  smoking,  etc.,  etc.  One  thing 
which  has  already  been  mentioned  would  not 
be  out  of  place  if  repeated  here,  and  that  is 
the  care  of  the  teeth.  Many  a  boy  has  been 
kept  awake  for  several  nights  in  succession 
during  the  hardest  part  of  the  season  by  a 
toothache,  which  would  have  been  avoided  had 
he  not  neglected  the  dentist  examination 
which  should  be  made  every  six  months.  Bad 
dreams,  while  not  exactly  part  of  insomnia, 
are  detrimental  in  their  effect  because  they 
prevent  sound  sleep  and  cause  an  agitation 
which  interferes  with  the  processes  of  repair. 
They  are  generally  the  result  of  indigestion, 
lying  on  the  back,  cold  or  any  unnatural  con- 
dition. 

I  hope  the  athletes  who  read  this  chapter 
will  take  it  to  heart  and  realize  how  much  the 
observance  of  the  regular  sleep  schedule  has 
to  do  with  successful  sport.  Sleep  is  less  easy 


9*  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

than  diet  and  other  details  of  training  to  en- 
force by  discipline;  therefore  every  athlete 
should  make  it  a  conscientious  duty  of  his  own 
for  the  sake  of  his  value  to  the  team. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

EXERCISE  AS  DISTINGUSHED 
FROM  PRACTICE 

ONE  of  the  first  things  for  the  athlete  to 
learn  is  the  distinction  between  exercise  and 
practice,  and  he  should  realize  the  value  of 
exercise  as  a  preparation  and  to  supplement 
his  practice  in  whatever  form  of  sport  he  goes 
in  for.  Exercise  is  work  outside  the  game 
itiself  which  is  intended  to  build  up  the  mus- 
cles or  to  develop  the  endurance  which  the 
game  requires.  Practice  means  going  over 
and  over  the  details  of  the  sport  itself.  For 
example,  the  tennis  player's  exercise  consists 
in  compressing  an  elastic  ball  in  his  hand  to 
strengthen  his  forearm ;  his  practice  consists  in 
rehearsing  the  strokes  of  the  game  until  he 
perfects  himself  in  them.  Knack,  judgment 
and  skill  are  the  results  of  practice.  Endur- 
ance, suppleness  and  bodily  efficiency  come 
from  exercise. 

In  the  conduct  of  sport  in  this  country  the 

95 


96  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

exercise  phase  has  been  too  much  subor- 
dinated. We  have  expected  a  man  to  get 
his  exercise  through  playing  the  game  itself. 
We  have  made  too  little  effort  to  prepare  him 
for  his  practice  beforehand  by  first  seeing 
that  he  has  a  solid  foundation  of  good  general 
condition  and  then,  by  exercise,  preparing  the 
particular  muscles  which  he  will  make  use  of 
in  his  practice.  If  the  engine  of  the  man  is 
right  and  his  general  condition  good  he  can 
be  taught  all  the  rest.  The  main  point,  after 
all,  is  efficiency,  and  efficiency  in  athletics 
means  being  well  and  supple.  So  our  exer- 
cise divides  itself  into  two  classifications:  gen- 
eral exercise,  for  conditioning,  insuring  health 
and  suppling  the  body  all  over  so  that  it  is 
prepared  for  any  kind  of  sport,  and  special 
exercise  applied  to  particular  muscles  in 
preparation  for  a  particular  form  of  athletics. 
The  reason  why  so  little  value  has  been 
placed  upon  set-up  exercises  is  because,  as  a 
rule,  they  duplicated  much  of  the  work  of  the 
daily  practice.  This,  of  course,  was  because 
most  calisthenics  have  been  applied  largely 
to  the  arms  and  legs  and  it  was  thought  that 
development  of  these  muscles  of  legs  and  arms 


BATTLING  NELSON. 


'HAMMER  THROWER. 


Showing  smoothness  of  development  and          Showing  suppleness  and  necessity  of  loin 
absence  of  knotty  muscles.  muscles. 


TWO  PHOTOGRAPHS  OF  FOOTBALL  PLAYERS. 

Showing  poise  and  suppleness. 


EXERCISE  AND  PRACTICE  97 

was  the  essential.  But  a  new  light  is  dawning 
on  the  horizon  of  athletics  in  this  respect ;  train- 
ers are  coming  to  realize  that  the  best  founda- 
tion for  an  athlete  is  a  development  of  the  main 
muscles  of  the  body, — of  the  trunk,  chest  and 
back.  Not  only  are  these  main  body  muscles 
the  most  important  to  health  in  that  they 
surround  and  support  the  "  engine,"  but  they 
are  essential  to  any  game  or  kind  of  sport, 
How  they  are  used  will  be  shown  in  detail 
in  the  later  chapters  which  I  shall  devote 
specifically  to  the  four  major  sports.  Here 
I  will  merely  point  out  that  the  trunk  muscles 
are  essential  to  the  back  in  football  in  his 
dodging,  to  the  batter  in  baseball  in  swinging 
his  bat,  to  the  golfer  in  his  drive,  to  the  tennis 
player  in  his  backhand  strokes,  to  the  polo 
player  in  almost  every  move  he  makes,  and 
so  on  down  the  whole  list. 

It  has  long  been  held  up  to  us  that  the 
Englishman  surpasses  us  in  being  an  all- 
round  athlete;  that  he  does  a  great  many 
things  and  does  them  with  a  fair  average 
ability.  We  in  this  country  specialize  too 
far  when  we  neglect  an  all-round  develop- 
ment to  make  a  man  a  star  in  some  particular 


98  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

detail  of  sport.  It  may  win  championships, 
but,  where  general  exercise  is  neglected  for 
this  one  purpose,  the  future  historian  will 
write  down  that  we  have  been  wrong.  It 
makes  of  sport  too  much  an  end  in  itself, 
whereas  it  should  be  merely  a  pleasant  means 
to  health  and  fitness.  It  tends  to  make  a  man 
one-sided. 

Some  stretching  exercises  for  the  muscles 
of  the  trunk  are  essential  both  for  the  athlete 
and  the  non-athlete,  but  especially  for  the 
athlete,  because  they  keep  the  main  muscles 
of  the  body  in  good  condition,  tend  to  give 
him  a  greater  chest  capacity  and  a  better 
poise  and  carriage,  which  mean,  after*  all, 
greater  endurance. 

Practically  all  our  sports  can  be  carried 
on  by  a  man  with  his  head  sticking  forward 
and  his  chest  compressed,  and,  while  he  is 
young,  youth  helps  him  so  that  he  does  not 
realize  what  he  is  losing.  Yet  any  athlete 
who,  by  exercising  during  the  seasons  when 
he  is  not  practising,  as  well  as  using  these 
exercises  to  supplement  his  practice  during 
the  season  itself,  increases  his  chest  measure- 
ment an  inch  or  an  inch  and  a  half,  will  have 


EXERCISE  AND  PRACTICE  99 

a  better  chance  in  his  particular  sport  than 
formerly  because  his  endurance  will  be 
greater.  Also,  he  is  laying  a  foundation  for 
good  health  in  the  future.  So  much  for  gen- 
eral exercise. 

Special  exercises  which  are  not  practice,  yet 
are  designed  to  develop  the  muscles  used  in 
one  particular  sport,  may  be  practised  to  any 
extent.  A  football  lineman  can  do  the  "  duck 
walk "  and  other  things  which  produce  a 
greater  suppleness  in  the  loins  and  greater 
strength  to  turn  and  twist.  The  shot  putter 
may  develop  the  push  of  his  fingers  by  opening 
and  closing  exercises  of  the  hand.  The  base- 
ball player  can  exercise  his  throwing  muscles 
by  rotating  his  arm,  etc.  All  these  are  special 
exercises  of  great  value. 

Men  suffer  unnecessarily  because  they  are 
unwilling  to  prepare  themselves  for  their 
practice,  before  the  practice  begins.  If  a  man 
is  a  baseball  player  he  should  give  a  little 
time  each  day  during  the  winter  to  suppling 
his  arm  so  that  when  he  goes  out  to  begin  his 
practice  he  will  not  suffer  lameness.  Five  min- 
utes a  day  will  help.  A  man  who  intends  to 
go  out  for  crew  should  devote  some  of  his 


100  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

spare  time  to  developing  his  chest.  The 
actual  work  in  the  boat  will  not  do  it.  Dur- 
ing most  of  the  stroke  the  chest  is  contracted 
and  compressed.  Yet  the  man  must  have  a 
big  chest  or  he  cannot  stand  the  strain.  With 
a  little  work  and  a  kind  of  exercise  which  is 
exhilarating  and  helpful  to  general  health  he 
can  attain  surprising  results  just  during  the 
winter,  so  that  when  the  river  opens  again  he 
can  start  in  with  the  advantage  of  greater 
capacity  in  his  lungs  and  more  room  in  the 
thoracic  cavity.  The  difference  in  his  endur- 
ance will  become  immediately  noticeable  to 
him.  Incidentally  his  general  health  will  im- 
prove. He  will  be  free  from  colds,  lessen  his 
chance  of  infection,  keep  himself  from  putting 
on  fat,  give  himself  good  posture  and  car- 
riage, thereby  greatly  improving  his  appear- 
ance, and  most  important  of  all,  lay  a  founda- 
tion for  his  later  life. 

The  fact  that  we  do  not  do  this  work  as  a 
preparation  for  the  strenuous  practice  of  the 
intensive  part  of  the  season,  is  responsible  for 
much  of  the  ill  effects  attributed  to  our  ath- 
letics. A  boy  who  goes  into  football  thor- 
oughly soft  is  likely  to  get  hurt.  If  he  had 


EXERCISE  AND  PRACTICE  101 

taken  a  few  minutes  each  day  out  of  season 
to  supple  himself  and  prepare  his  muscles  for 
the  strain  they  were  to  undergo,  he  could  have 
prevented  this  injury.  A  boy  who  injures  his 
heart  rowing  might  have  avoided  this  by  in- 
creasing his  chest  and  giving  his  heart  more 
room.  The  same  is  true  of  the  runner  whose 
heart  becomes  affected. 

The  proper  approach  to  practice  through 
exercise  can  be  compared  to  the  merging  of 
the  fair  green  on  a  golf  course  into  the  putt- 
ing green.  The  fair  green  is  rough,  often 
sloping;  it  evens  off  gradually  into  the  putt- 
ing green,  level  and  smooth,  cut  short  and 
perfectly  adapted  to  the  skilful  care  neces- 
sary to  putting.  When  we  try  to  make  our 
bodies  do  the  specialized  work  of  practice 
without  approaching  it  through  exercise,  it  is 
as  if  we  tried  to  putt  while  we  were  still  in 
the  rougher  part  of  the  fair  green.  Yet, 
if  the  player  would  put  in  these  winter  exer- 
cises the  coaches  and  trainers  could  let  the 
men  on  baseball  teams  throw  the  first  day  they 
come  out,  and  the  league  teams  when  they  go 
on  their  southern  trip  could  begin  to  play  ball 
immediately. 


102  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

The  main  purpose  of  this  chapter  is  to  show 
the  relation  of  exercise  to  the  game  itself; 
how  it  helps  that  game,  and,  most  important 
of  all,  how  the  combination  of  the  two  makes 
for  health  in  after  life.  If  sports  are  not 
going  to  make  us  healthier,  happier  men  we 
might  as  well  abandon  them.  If  they  are  not 
going  to  give  men  a  general  all-round  develop- 
ment they  lose  half  their  value.  They  will 
accomplish  both  these  results  if  athletes  will 
take  the  little  extra  trouble  to  prepare  them- 
selves properly.  If  they  do  this,  then  the 
game  will  help  the  man  by  making  him  build 
himself  up  into  fitness  for  it.  Also,  the  exer- 
cise will  help  the  game,  no  matter  what  it  is. 
A  boy  can  take  these  exercises  by  himself 
without  apparatus  or  assistance  from  trainers. 
The  specific  exercises  for  the  various  kinds 
of  athletic  work  will  be  given  in  detail  in 
later  chapters,  and  a  boy  should  find  no  dif- 
ficulty in  learning  them. 

The  results  of  taking  these  exercises  con- 
sistently even  for  a  short  time  have  been  quite 
surprising  in  the  increases  in  measurements 
they  have  brought  about,  especially  with  boys. 
In  an  article  I  wrote  for  the  American  Boy 


EXERCISE  AND  PRACTICE  103 

Magazine  I  gave  these  exercises,  and  also 
made  a  "  health  chart "  on  which  the  boys 
who  took  them  were  to  record  certain  meas- 
urements. The  measurements  included  on  the 
chart  were  neck,  chest  (normal,  full  inspira- 
tion, expansion),  thigh,  shoulders,  height  and 
weight.  At  the  end  of  six  weeks  nearly  all 
the  boys  I  heard  from  had  made  remarkable 
gains.  One  boy  wrote  to  the  editor  of  the 
American  Boy: 

"  When  I  took  my  physical  examination 
in  school,  I  was  five  feet,  ten  inches  tall 
and  weighed  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight 
pounds.  After  one  month  of  steady  exercis- 
ing, I  measured  five  feet,  eleven  inches  tall 
and  weighed  one  hundred  and  thirty-two 
pounds  and  my  chest  expansion  had  increased 
one  and  one-half  inches.  I  am  putting  special 
exercise  on  the  crouch,  curl  and  grate,  as  I 
am  going  out  for  running.  At  present  I  am 
in  perfect  physical  condition  except  that  I 
am  slightly  round-shouldered." 


CHAPTER  IX 


THIS  is  a  broad  subject  but  an  important 
one,  for  on  it  may  depend  a  boy's  entire  life, 
as  far  as  the  health  of  his  body  is  concerned. 
If  he  or  his  trainers  make  the  mistake  of 
forcing  him,  while  he  is  growing,  to  do  more 
than  his  maturity  of  body  allows,  an  injury 
to  the  heart  or  nerves  may  result  which  will 
cause  serious  after-effects  from  which  it  will 
be  difficult  or  impossible  to  recover.  If  there 
is  no  limit,  based  on  a  boy's  age,  to  the 
amount  and  character  of  his  work  his  strength 
will  daily  be  burned  up  and  his  future  pros- 
pects in  athletics  ruined.  On  the  other  hand, 
properly  conducted  and  controlled  competi- 
tive sport  in  schools  is  an  excellent  and  profit- 
able thing  for  boys  of  all  ages  whether  or 
not  they  intend  continuing  an  athletic  career 
through  college. 

104 


EFFECT  OF  DRIVING  BOYS          105 

There  is  plenty  of  stimulus  in  ordinary 
school  rivalry  without  increasing  it  to  the 
extent  that  the  heart  is  endangered  by  over- 
exercising.  Until  a  boy  gets  his  growth, 
which  varies  in  individuals  from  19  to  24,  his 
heart  is  immature,  and  must  not  be  subjected 
to  an  undue  strain.  Distance  track  races  are 
not  for  the  boy  with  the  immature  heart,  nor 
is  rowing,  to  the  extent  it  is  sometimes  prac- 
tised, although,  if  care  is  exercised,  rowing 
can  be  made  a  very  beneficial  form  of  school 
sport  as  the  Eton  boys  have  proved.  Yet 
rowing  is  a  sport  which  must  be  watched;  it 
must  be  avoided  by  boys  whose  chest  meas- 
urement is  inadequate  because  the  heart  has 
too  little  room ;  and  if  long  courses,  strenuous 
and  continued  competition,  and  exhaustion  of 
endurance  are  permitted  it  will  inevitably  be 
harmful  to  boys  whose  hearts  have  not  at- 
tained their  maturity. 

Another  important  reason  for  not  driving 
boys  too  violently  is  that  their  nerves  are  af- 
fected. The  first  symptom  of  this  is  a  con- 
stant feeling  of  being  tired,  an  apparent 
laziness,  a  desire  to  lie  down,  to  avoid  physical 
effort.  This  is  caused  by  overwork,  continued 


106  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

strain  of  worry  added  to  the  physical  strain 
due  to  too  much  competition,  and  burning  the 
candle  at  both  ends.  By  this  I  mean  trying 
to  make  a  boy's  energy  and  reserve  strength 
do  two  kinds  of  work  at  once — growing  and 
over-exercising.  It  must  never  be  forgotten 
that  a  very  large  part  of  a  boy's  strength  is 
used  up  by  his  actual  physical  growth  in  the 
creating  of  flesh  and  blood,  which  is  in  itself 
a  strenuous  process  and  requires  a  good  deal 
of  food  and  rest.  Our  object  in  athletics  for 
boys  is  to  give  them  something  that  will  help 
this  growth,  harden  the  flesh  into  muscle,  de- 
velop breadth  as  well  as  height,  fill  out  the 
chest,  give  a  lung  expansion  that  will  enable 
the  engine  to  get  plenty  of  oxygen  and  yet 
not  carry  it  to  the  point  of  over-drawing  the 
strength  which  is  necessary  to  growth.  Young 
boys  should  be  carefully  watched  about  going 
stale  for  this  reason.  We  must  always  re- 
member that  the  nerves  are  the  energizers  of 
the  muscles;  if  we  submit  the  nervous  system 
to  a  severe  shock  or  strain,  the  muscles  must 
work  less  efficiently. 

One  of  the  frequent  causes  of  nerve  ex- 
haustion and  consequent  going  stale  among 


EFFECT  OF  DRIVING  BOYS          107 

schoolboys  is  the  taking  part  in  too  many  dif- 
ferent kinds  of  sport.  It  often  happens  that 
in  a  small  school  a  good  athlete  feels  it  his 
duty  to  do  everything  he  knows  how  to  help 
the  school  teams.  Also,  he  is  generally  urged 
by  coaches  to  go  out  for  all  sports.  The  re- 
sult is,  in  the  spring  of  the  year,  he  finds  him- 
self playing  baseball,  running  in  several 
events  on  the  track,  playing  on  the  tennis 
team  and  rowing  on  the  crew  if  there  is  one. 
This  is  too  much;  it  keeps  him  working  all 
the  time,  gives  him  no  chance  to  rest  and 
burns  up  his  strength.  Beside  this  he  may 
injure  his  heart  and  exhaust  his  nerves.  The 
usual  result  of  submitting  a  boy  to  a  strain 
like  this  is  that  he  goes  stale  and  loses  some 
of  the  more  important  events  and  games. 
It  is  wrong  for  a  school  to  put  the  burden 
of  its  athletic  accomplishment  on  one  man 
in  this  way,  and  a  good  coach  generally  knows 
better  than  to  permit  it  no  matter  how  keen 
the  boy  himself  may  be  to  go  to  the  limit 
of  his  endurance.  The  Association  of  College 
Coaches  has  recently  recommended  that  a  rule 
be  made  placing  a  limit  on  the  number  of 
contests  a  man  may  enter  during  the  college 


108  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

year.  A  rule  of  this  sort  in  schools  would 
not  only  be  fairer  to  the  boy,  but  it  would  be 
wiser  for  the  school  not  to  rely  too  much 
on  a  single  man  to  win  all  its  honors.  If  he 
is  counted  on  to  win  the  majority  of  points 
in  a  track  meet,  for  instance,  instead  of  .hav- 
ing more  even  distribution,  then  if  he  injures 
or  exhausts  himself  in  the  first  event,  it  means 
that  the  others  too  are  lost.  A  man  should 
not  be  counted  on  to  win  both  the  mile  and 
the  half-mile,  although  this  has  been  done. 
It  is  asking  too  much  of  a  boy  to  expect  him 
to  run  the  hundred,  the  two-twenty,  and  the 
quarter-mile  in  the  same  meet. 

Another  thing  which  should  be  watched  in 
schoolboy  work  is  one-sidedness  of  develop- 
ment. This  generally  comes  from  too  con- 
tinuous practice  of  one  particular  thing  dur- 
ing growth.  For  instance,  the  pitcher  who 
does  nothing  but  pitch  is  likely  to  develop  one 
shoulder  more  than  the  other.  A  runner  may 
neglect  his  chest  development  through  too 
much  specializing  in  running.  A  shot  putter 
who  goes  in  for  no  other  work  and  takes  no 
equalizing  exercises  will  develop  one  side  of 
his  body,  especially  one  shoulder,  arm  and 


EFFECT  OF  DRIVING  BOYS          109 

hand,  out  of  proportion  to  the  other.  This 
is  especially  true  during  growth,  while  the 
bones  are  hardening. 

Until  the  ends  of  the  bones  begin  to  ossify, 
which  is  really  the  beginning  of  the  end  of 
growth,  a  boy  is  entirely  different  from  the 
mature  man  in  several  respects.  One  of 
these  is  his  need  of  sleep  and  rest,  which  has 
been  dwelt  on  at  some  length  in  the  chapter 
on  that  subject.  That  a  boy  grows  during 
sleep  is  true,  because  during  sleep  the  building- 
up  process  does  more  work  than  the  breaking- 
down.  At  all  times  these  two  processes  are 
going  on  side  by  side.  During  the  day  the 
destructive  one  exceeds  the  other,  resulting 
in  an  accumulation  of  waste,  while  at  night 
the  destructive  process  is  very  much  in  abey- 
ance and  construction  has  a  chance  to  do  its 
work.  Also,  during  the  night,  the  waste 
products  in  the  blood  are  eliminated,  giving 
growth  a  chance  to  work. 

We  have  taken  up  so  far  the  boy's  limita- 
tions. Yet  the  boy  has  a  number  of  important 
things  in  his  favor.  The  principal  one  is  sup- 
pleness. Then,  too,  his  bones  have  not  hard- 
ened. In  infancy  the  bones  are  so  soft  and  flex- 


110  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

ible  that  they  are  hard  to  break  and  can  easily 
be  bent.  That  is  one  reason  why  a  baby  can  fall 
so  much  without  injury.  Also,  a  baby  can  go 
through  various  contortions  of  the  body,  such 
as  putting  its  foot  in  its  mouth,  without  diffi- 
culty. Young  children  at  play  can  twist  and 
turn  into  positions  of  the  body  which  are 
quite  impossible  for  the  older  person.  A  boy 
from  twelve  to  eighteen  retains  a  great  deal 
of  suppleness  and  this  helps  him  in  all  his 
sport.  It  gives  him  a  springiness  which  ena- 
bles him  to  throw  his  whole  body  into  a  stroke 
of  any  kind  such  as  hitting  a  tennis  ball  or 
batting  a  baseball,  and  that  quality  which 
makes  a  sort  of  flexible  steel  spring  out  of  his 
body  and  gives  great  speed  to  a  stroke  which, 
if  it  depended  on  strength  alone,  would  have 
little  power. 

Perhaps  this  is  most  marked  in  the  golfer. 
A  caddy  with  no  muscular  strength,  hardly 
able  to  swing  a  club,  will  make  a  far  better 
attempt  at  driving  the  ball  a  distance  than 
the  middle-aged  man  who  takes  up  golf  for 
the  first  time.  That  is  because  the  caddy 
simply  throws  the  clubhead  into  the  ball, 
whereas  the  mature  man  makes  an  effort  to 


EFFECT  OF  DRIVING  BOYS          111 

beat  it  by  the  use  of  his  muscular  strength. 
The  full-grown  man  has  to  substitute  muscle 
for  the  suppleness  and  spring  of  the  boy's 
body. 

A  boy  can  sit  on  a  horse  more  easily  than 
a  grown  man  because  he  has  no  rigidity,  and 
is  able  to  flex  his  body  naturally  with  the  mo- 
tion of  the  horse,  and  in  this  way  can  quickly 
change  his  weight  and  thus  keep  his  balance. 
Also,  when  he  is  first  learning  his  seat,  the 
motion  of  the  horse  jars  him  very  much  less 
than  it  does  the  older  man. 

The  effect  of  age  on  condition  is  due  to  a 
large  number  of  causes.  The  curve  of  athletic 
efficiency  goes  steadily  upward  from  fifteen  to 
about  twenty-four,  at  which  it  generally  reaches 
its  maximum;  it  then  keeps  level  for  about 
five  years  and  begins  to  go  down.  The  rea- 
son for  its  maximum  coming  at  that  point  is 
due  to  the  fact  that  a  man  at  twenty-four  has 
got  his  growth  so  that  his  heart  is  mature 
enough  to  allow  him  to  make  violent  and  con- 
tinued physical  effort;  his  endurance  is  at  its 
highest  point,  and  his  suppleness  has  not  left 
him.  Of  course  this  cannot  be  taken  as  abso- 
lutely definite  or  fixed.  Individuals  vary  widely 


112  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

in  their  adolescence.  Some  boys  are  men  at 
eighteen  with  their  full  growth  and  complete 
physical  maturity.  In  tropical  countries 
boys  mature  at  fifteen  or  sixteen  and  often 
marry  and  have  families  at  those  ages.  In 
some  men,  on  the  other  hand,  the  body 
does  not  attain  its  complete  growth  until 
after  twenty-five.  These  individual  differ- 
ences should  be  studied  carefully  and  a  boy 
trained  accordingly.  In  a  general  way  the 
rules  given  here  apply.  Occasionally  a  boy  of 
seventeen  or  less  will  be  found  who  can  row  a 
four-mile  race  with  impunity,  but  on  the  whole 
work  of  this  kind  is  not  for  schoolboys.  The 
long-distance  runs  are  equally  bad. 

It  is  also  true  that  a  man  keeps  up  his 
athletic  ability  in  track  and  rowing  beyond 
thirty.  Of  course,  I  mean  here  competitive 
work.  A  crew  of  men  averaging  about  thirty 
years  recently  went  to  England  to  represent 
the  Union  Boat  Club  of  Boston  in  a  race 
at  Henley.  Baseball,  tennis  and  especially 
golf,  can,  of  course,  be  carried  further. 
The  following  scale  of  ages  in  the  different 
sports  gives  an  approximate  idea  of  the  effect 
of  age  on  condition  in  athletics: 


EFFECT  OF  DRIVING  BOYS          113 

Football  15  to  25 

Tennis  up  to  40 

Rowing    ( racing)  22  to  30 

Running  15  to  25 

Lacrosse  and  Association  football  15  to  25 
Wrestling  up  to  30  or  35 

Baseball  up  to  35 

Golf — all  ages,  but  in  moderation  after  50. 


CHAPTER  X 
STORING  UP  ENERGY 

IF  there  was  one  thing  that  the  old-time 
trainer  was  wont  to  forget  it  was  this:  that 
you  cannot  draw  for  energy  upon  a  supply 
that  has  been  exhausted.  It  is  exactly  like 
overdrawing  a  bank  account.  Each  indi- 
vidual has  a  certain  amount  of  stored-up 
energy,  and  bountiful  Nature  has  so  arranged 
it  that,  in  the  normal  life,  there  is  generally 
a  surplus,  or  reserve  fund,  which  may  be 
drawn  upon  in  case  of  emergency.  If  the 
emergency  does  not  come  too  often  he  is  equal 
to  it  and  does  not  suffer  from  it.  If,  how- 
ever, he  is  constantly  creating  artificial  emer- 
gencies which  tax  him  to  the  limit  of  his 
strength  he  is  obliged  to  overdraw  and  suf- 
fers accordingly.  Nature  shows  no  special 
courtesies  in  this  regard.  A  bank  will  often" 
permit  a  man  to  overdraw  his  account  fre- 
quently if  it  is  sure  of  his  good  faith.  Na- 
ture will  not. 

114 


STORING  UP  ENERGY  115 

It  is  seldom,  in  ordinary  life,  that  a  man 
taxes  his  energy  to  the  utmost  in  any 
single  attempt.  The  athlete,  if  he  were  not 
spurred  on  by  the  rivalry,  the  exhortations 
of  his  friends,  the  feeling  that  he  must  do  or 
die,  would  stop  short  of  making  his  final  and 
greatest  effort,  but  in  modern  days  the  athlete 
is  brought  up  to  know  that  he  must  give 
everything  there  is  in  him,  and  so  he  does. 
The  question  for  the  trainer  then  becomes, 
'  What  has  he  got  in  him?  "  and  this  depends 
entirely  on  his  training.  If,  several  times 
during  the  course  of  his  preliminary  work, 
he  has  been  asked  to  give  everything  that  is 
in  him  and  has  done  it,  there  is  naturally  not 
very  much  left  for  the  final  contest.  No 
opportunity  has  been  given  him  to  store  up 
a  new  supply  of  power  after  it  has  been 
depleted. 

It  is  far  from  my  intention  to  depreciate 
in  any  way  the  spirit  of  rivalry  and  competi- 
tion which  motivates  our  American  athletes; 
I  am,  on  the  contrary,  heartily  in  favor  of  it. 
Competition  is  one  of  the  fundamental  and 
powerful  instincts  of  youth;  without  it  any 
real  achievement  or  success  in  life  would  be 


116  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

impossible.  A  boy  who  does  not  naturally 
feel  the  spur  of  this  rivalry,  combined  with 
the  instinct  of  loyalty  to  the  school  that  he  as 
an  athlete  represents,  is  not  a  normal  boy, 
and  will  probably  not  make  a  success  of  his 
after  life.  Then,  too,  his  desire  and  ability 
to  give  everything  he  has  to  give  to  that 
school  are  elements  of  the  American  charac- 
ter, fostered  and  developed  by  American 
sport,  which  have  made  it  possible  to  rise  to 
great  national  emergencies.  The  success  of 
our  part  in  the  World  War  was  directly 
dependent  on  this  spirit.  The  natural, 
easy  willingness  of  the  American  to  give 
his  whole  strength  with  no  thought  of  self, 
together  with  his  humorous  incredulity  of 
the  impossible,  have  the  same  origin  as 
the  spirit  of  the  track  runner  in  the  final 
meet. 

My  argument  in  this  chapter  is  simply  that 
the  trainer  should  make  it  possible  for  the 
athlete,  when  the  test  comes,  to  have  some- 
thing to  give.  There  are  many  ways  in  which 
a  trainer,  by  improper  methods,  may  prevent 
this  and  completely  exhaust  a  boy's  reserve. 
One  of  them  is  by  frequent  time  trials.  An- 


STORING  UP  ENERGY  117 

other  is  to  make  a  man  repeatedly  run  his 
distance  in  competition  with  other  men  so  that 
he  is  constantly  pushed.  Another  is  in  never 
giving  the  men  a  day  off.  A  football  trainer 
may  tire  his  men  so  much  as  to  reduce  their 
efficiency  by  playing  them  to  a  standstill  in 
the  daily  scrimmage.  This  is  particularly 
dangerous  in  football  because  tired  men  get 
hurt  easily. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  of  nature's 
provisions  for  compensation  in  the  human  ani- 
mal is  resiliency  of  spirit,  popularly  known 
as  "  come-back."  If  you  give  a  man  half  a 
chance  he  will  rebound  from  fatigue,  and 
even  after  an  exhausting  physical  experience 
will  completely  recover  in  a  short  time.  If, 
however,  you  take  him  before  his  "  come- 
back "  has  started  to  work  and  put  him 
through  another  severe  test,  his  resiliency  be- 
comes weakened.  For  example,  three  hard 
games  of  baseball  a  week,  while  it  may  im- 
prove a  man's  skill  in  some  ways,  reduces  his 
ability  to  keep  on  his  toes,  his  alertness,  in- 
terest, enthusiasm,  speed,  in  short,  all  those 
qualities  which  go  to  make  up  that  pre- 
eminent attribute  of  the  American  athlete 


118  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

whicH  we  describe  collectively  as  "pep  and 
ginger." 

There  are  many  ways  in  which  the  reserve 
supply  can  be  increased  and  resiliency  aided 
which  will  not  in  any  way  detract  from  the 
athlete's  spirit  or  reduce  his  skill.  For  exam- 
ple, in  football:  a  daily  short,  sharp  scrim- 
mage which  leaves  the  men  alert  and  tingling 
yet  with  their  reserve  untouched.  This  scrim- 
mage should  have  plenty  of  snap  while  it 
lasts,  because  men  always  feel  better  after 
sharp  than  after  slow  work  if  it  is  not  carried 
to  the  point  of  exhaustion.  In  this  way  a 
good  deal  of  their  stamina  is  saved  up  each 
day  for  the  real  games.  There  should  not 
be  hard  scrimmage  the  week  before  the  final 
game.  During  the  week  before  this  last  con- 
test (which,  however  it  may  turn  out,  is  gen- 
erally assumed  beforehand  to  be  the  most  dif- 
ficult of  the  season)  the  work  should  be  light 
so  that  the  men  will  accumulate  a  lot  of  re- 
serve energy  by  the  end  of  the  week.  It 
should  consist  of  two  or  three  days  of  sharp 
but  short  scrimmage  with  the  rest  of  the  time 
spent  in  running  through  signals,  blackboard 
talks,  etc. — work  which  gives  practice  in  the; 


STORING  UP  ENERGY  119 

details  of  the  game  without  the  fight  which  is 
necessary  in  scrimmage. 

In  track,  the  middle  distance  runner  should 
seldom  run  on  time.  The  supreme  effort  for 
him  should  be  an  unusual  thing  and  should 
come  when  he  can  accomplish  most  by  it,  as 
in  a  meet,  as  well  as  at  a  time  when  he  can 
best  afford  it.  A  runner  of  the  quarter-mile, 
for  instance,  constantly  watching  his  time  and 
trying  each  day  to  cut  down  the  mark  of  the 
day  before,  is  exhausting  his  reserve  and 
starting  on  the  inevitable  road  to  "  staleness." 
In  the  running  of  preliminary  heats  the  day 
before  a  track  meet,  a  sprinter  should  only 
try  to  gain  a  qualifying  place;  he  should  not 
attempt  to  come  out  ahead.  In  this  way  he 
is  not  putting  forth  his  fullest  effort  when 
it  is  not  necessary;  he  is  saving  himself  and 
not  depleting  the  reserve  store  which  may  be- 
come vitally  necessary  to  him  in  the  next 
day's  race. 

Sleep  is  one  of  the  best  means  of  accumu- 
lating energy.  During  sleep,  or  even  during 
the  rest  that  comes  from  relaxation,  the  vi- 
tality capital  is  continually  drawing  interest. 
There  are  some  men  more  dependent  on  sleep 


120  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

than  others  and  allowances  should  be  made 
for  these  idiosyncrasies.  Some  men,  no  matter 
how  great  the  physical  effort  of  the  day  be- 
fore, can  get  up  from  bed  completely  restored 
if  they  have  been  able  to  get  enough  sleep. 
Another  important  help  to  storing  up  energy 
is  the  rest  that  comes  from  an  occasional  day 
off  from  practice,  especially  if  this  day  is 
filled  with  a  complete  change  of  scene  and 
surroundings  so  that  the  mind  as  well  as  the 
body  gets  a  chance  to  shift  from  the  all- 
important  subject.  The  wise  trainer  who 
watches  his  men  carefully  will  know  immedi- 
ately when  this  is  needed  for  particular  men 
and  act  accordingly,  not  hesitating  to  increase 
the  time  of  this  "  vacation "  if  he  thinks  it 
necessary.  It  is  better  for  a  man  to  lose  two 
or  three  days  of  practice  than  to  take  any 
chance  of  cutting  down  his  reserve,  so  that 
when  he  comes  to  draw  on  it  in  the  final  con- 
test he  will  fail  because  there  is  none  left. 

The  extreme  of  fatigue  is  when  the  muscles 
actually  stop  working.  Experiments  in  the 
physiological  laboratory  have  proved  this  by 
the  use  of  an  electrical  current  in  a  frog's 
leg.  The  current  causes  a  flexing  of  the  mus- 


STORING  UP  ENERGY  121 

cles  of  the  leg  which  continues  for  a  certain 
time;  then  the  muscular  reflex  slows  down 
and  finally  stops  entirely,  showing  that  the 
muscle  has  become  incapable  of  further  action. 
This  has  been  found  to  be  due  to  an  accu- 
mulation of  acid  secreted  by  the  movement 
of  the  muscle.  After  a  period  of  rest  the  acid 
disappears  and  the  muscle  may  again  be 
flexed,  although  if  insufficient  time  is  allowed, 
the  muscle  will  work  less  easily  and  readily 
and  will  become  incapacitated  sooner.  In 
our  bodies  the  work  of  the  electric  current  is 
done  by  the  nerves,  and  the  same  effect  is 
produced  by  fatigue;  the  muscles  fail  to  re- 
spond to  the  stimulus  of  the  nerves.  If,  in 
addition  to  muscle  fatigue,  we  have  nervous 
fatigue  (a  condition  which  comes  from  exces- 
sive competitive  work)  the  stimulus  is  not 
strong  enough  to  work  even  a  moderately 
fatigued  muscle. 

The  immediate  results  of  this  "  overdraw- 
ing "  in  athletic  work  are  obvious ;  the  after- 
effects, however,  are  more  serious  and  difficult 
to  cure.  They  may  be  heart  strain  which  will 
permanently  weaken  the  heart  or  nervous  ex- 
Jiaustion  which  may  cause  a  breakdown  with 


122  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

all  its  usual  far-reaching  results.  Trainers 
are  coming  to  realize  these  things  more  and 
more  as  they  watch  the  results  of  different 
kinds  of  training,  and  experience  is  showing 
them  that  the  laws  of  Nature  cannot  be  jug- 
gled with  and  that  the  limitations  of  physical 
man  are  very  definite.  With  this  realization 
is  coming  better  sport  in  all  athletic  branches. 
It  is  really  largely  a  matter  of  figuring,  just 
as  are  the  financial  accounts  of  the  athletic 
association.  While  the  figures  on  the  credit 
side  exceed  the  debits,  we  can  be  sure  that  our 
progress  is  safe  and  normal ;  when  the  balance 
swings  the  other  way  we  must  be  on  the  look- 
out for  disaster.  And  we  must  remember 
that  Nature's  settlements  for  bankruptcy  are 
far  harsher  than  those  which  are  carried  out 
according  to  man-made  law! 

One  may  gather  some  idea  of  why  storing 
up  of  energy  is  so  essential  from  practical 
facts  regarding  athletic  events.  A  man  may 
lose  five  to  seven  pounds  of  weight  in  a  four- 
mile  race  lasting  a  little  over  twenty  minutes. 
I  have  seen  a  football  team — a  Yale  team 
playing  against  Princeton  on  an  unusually 
warm  day  in  November — lose  from  five  to 


STORING  UP  ENERGY  123 

eleven  pounds  per  man.  This  particular 
team  was  built  up  in  the  next  week  for  its 
Harvard  game  by  rest  and  relaxation  and 
good  food  until  it  recovered  practically  all 
its  weight  and  a  good  deal  of  its  exhausted 
vitality.  Many  a  team  or  crew  has  been  in 
good  condition  in  mid-season  and  then  by  too 
severe  work  exhausted  its  margin  of  energy 
before  the  big  contest — gone  stale — and  been 
defeated.  A  certain  amount  of  surplus  weight 
as  well  as  surplus  energy  must  be  kept 
against  the  nervous  and  physical  strain  of  the 
big  contest.  A  big  contest  is  far  different 
from  practice  or  from  a  small  game.  Not 
only  do  the  players  burn  up  some  energy 
from  anxiety  in  the  hours  preceding  such  a 
game  but  they  are  subject  to  the  excitement 
incident  to  the  cheering  and  enthusiasm  of 
thousands  of  spectators,  and  this  keying  up 
inevitably  has  its  effect  in  still  further  de- 
mands upon  the  nervous  energy.  The  whole 
atmosphere  is  exhaustive  of  a  certain  amount 
of  nerve  force  which  must  be  in  reserve  at 
that  time  to  draw  upon.  Again,  it  is  like 
the  financial  caution  that  provides  something 
against  the  emergency.  Of  all  the  restorers 


124  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

and  builders  up  of  this  surplus  there  is  none 
that  equals  sound,  refreshing  sleep.  Particu- 
larly is  this  true  of  the  youth  who  is  still 
growing,  and  the  younger  the  boy  the  more 
is  this  sleep  needed  when  he  is  under  a  season 
of  training.  And  he  can  really  accumulate 
strength  and  energy  by  this  means  quite  a 
time  in  advance  of  the  demand.  Coaches 
should  realize  this  and  should  also  be  very 
careful  about  worry.  We  deal  specifically 
with  this  in  another  chapter,  but  it  is  a  great 
depleter  of  energy  and  should  be  reckoned 
with  in  this  connection  quite  as  much  as  any 
special  physical  effort.  Another  reason  why 
the  storing  up  of  energy  is  one  of  the  prime 
necessities  is  that  there  is,  as  referred  to  in 
another  chapter  of  this  book,  an  especial  drain 
upon  the  nervous  system  at  the  time  of  an 
important  contest.  This  drain  comes-  not 
alone  from  the  greater  effort  made,  but  from 
a  number  of  causes  incident  to  the  contest  but 
quite  outside  the  actual  play.  There  is  at 
least  a  period  of  twenty-four  and  usually 
forty-eight  hours  in  which  the  mind  of  the 
player  dwells  with  anxiety  over  the  coming 
test  of  skill.  He  may  be  confident  of  vie- 


STORING  UP  ENERGY  125 

tory,  yet  the  thrill  of  excitement  is  there.  If 
he  be  despondent  over  the  prospect,  still  more 
is  the  strain  present.  Then,  too,  the  crowd 
and  excitement  and  the  cheering  on  the  day 
of  the  game  add  to  this.  Now,  if  the  player 
is  "  stale  "  or  over- trained,  this  causes  him 
still  more  instability  and  it  may  be  depression. 
But  if  he  is  full  of  vitality,  in  good  condition, 
his  excitement  is  only  a  pleasant  fillip  to  his 
high  spirits.  It  will  then  be  seen  that  con- 
servation of  energy — fulness  of  health — is 
extremely  advisable  as  a  factor  toward 
victory. 


CHAPTER  XI 

SPECIALIZED  TRAINING  FOR 
FOOTBALL 

THERE  are  certain  qualities  necessary  for 
a  good  football  player;  some  of  them  are  born 
in  a  man;  most  of  them  he  acquires  by  hard 
work — exercise  and  practice.  The  important 
question  which  confronts  him  is  how  to  ac- 
quire these  qualities  with  the  greatest  cer- 
tainty and  in  the  least  time.  Naturally  the 
work  of  practice  during  the  season  gives  the 
bulk  of  this  development,  but,  as  in  any  other 
athletic  work,  it  can  be  materially  supple- 
mented by  certain  exercises  preliminary  to  the 
season  and  carried  on  through  the  early  part 
of  the  season's  training.  To  do  this  work 
intelligently  we  should  discover  what  are  the 
necessities  for  football  men  in  general  and 
for  each  specific  player. 

The  qualities  which  should  be  possessed  by 
everyone  who  goes  in  for  football,  whether  he 

126 


TRAINING  FOR  FOOTBALL  127 

be  a  back,  an  end,  or  a  line-man,  are  agility, 
suppleness,  speed,  strength,  endurance,  quick 
co-ordination,  rapidity  of  thought,  all-round 
development  and  toughness.  Obviously  many 
of  these  come  from  the  daily  practice,  but  for 
the  man  who  is  willing  to  make  an  extra 
effort  for  the  sake  of  his  success  on  the 
gridiron,  there  is  the  opportunity  for  outside 
work  in  exercises  specially  designed  to  de- 
velop the  required  qualities  in  the  shortest 
time.  These  exercises  are  valuable  to  every 
man  on  the  team  whether  or  not  he  is  a  "  born 
football  player  " ;  they  are  indispensable  to 
a  man  who  is  deficient  in  any  of  the  necessi- 
ties described  in  this  chapter. 

Agility  and  quick  co-ordination  are  culti- 
vated by  any  of  the  various  methods  of  di- 
viding men  into  small  groups  and  giving  them 
commands  which  they  are  to  execute  instantly. 
The  method  used  in  naval  stations  and  avia- 
tion fields  in  which  the  men  were  lined  up 
and  the  command  "  HANDS  "  given,  mean- 
ing the  position  of  attention;  "  HEAD," 
at  which  they  were  to  place  the  hands  behind 
the  head  with  elbows  back;  "HIPS,"  at 
which  they  were  to  shift  the  hands  to  the  hips 


128  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

on  the  command,  brought  about  a  rapidity 
of  muscular  action,  especially  if  combined 
with  various  tricks.  Among  these  tricks  was 
the  practice  of  proceeding  in  a  certain  regular 
order  for  a  time,  then  suddenly  changing  the 
order;  the  giving  of  one  command  by  the  in- 
structor, while  he  himself  actually  executed 
another;  or  insisting  that  the  men  remain 
motionless  unless  the  word  "  ORDER  "  pre- 
ceded the  command.  All  these  exercises  de- 
velop the  ability  to  change  positions  quickly 
and  in  response  to  an  immediate  necessity,  and 
at  the  same  time  train  the  mind  in  keeping 
always  alert.  They  also  produce  a  habit 
of  quick  muscular  response  to  the  will. 
Co-ordination  and  control  of  the  muscles 
come  from  exercises  where  one  arm  is  re- 
quired to  perform  one  motion  while  the 
other  performs  quite  a  different  one,  on 
the  principle  of  the  old  trick  of  patting  the 
head  and  rubbing  the  stomach  at  the  same 
time.  It  is  a  great  asset  in  any  kind  of  ath- 
letics to  be  able  to  control  the  muscles  inde- 
pendently of  each  other. 

Suppleness   can   be   greatly   increased   by 
exercises   in  which   the   trunk   is   turned   or 


TRAINING  FOR  FOOTBALL          129 

twisted,  bending  at  the  waist  with  the  hands 
behind  the  head  and  the  elbows  back,  squat- 
ting exercises,  etc.  For  speed,  that  is  actual 
pace  in  running,  the  track  trainer  who  usually 
works  with  the  football  men  can  be  relied 
upon  to  use  the  same  methods  he  uses  with 
sprinters,  bearing  in  mind,  of  course,  that 
with  big  men  this  is  a  slow  process.  Yet, 
even  the  big  men  can  be  quickened  by 
stimulating  rivalry  in  running  down  the  field 
and  work  of  that  sort.  Endurance, — the 
ability  to  play  a  fast  game  without  being 
"  winded,"  to  make  long  runs  keeping  up  the 
speed  to  the  end,  to  dodge  quickly  and  suc- 
cessfully even  after  a  long  run,  to  play  an 
uphill  game  in  the  last  few  minutes  after  hard 
periods, — these  require  a  stamina  which  may 
be  largely  developed  outside  of  practice. 
Breathing  exercises  are  valuable  because  they 
improve  the  condition  of  the  heart  and  lungs 
and  make  them  better  able  to  endure  strain. 
Exercises  which  enlarge  the  chest,  such  as  the 
"curl,"  in  which,  while  inhaling,  the  head  is 
bent  back,  the  hands  curled  into  the  armpits 
with  the  elbows  well  back,  then  stretched  for- 
ward exhaling  and  finally  brought  down  and 


130  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

back  while  the  body  bends  forward  at  the 
waist,  are  excellent  for  endurance  because  they 
increase  the  size  of  the  thoracic  cavity  and  so 
give  the  heart  more  room.  The  "curl"  is 
described  in  more  detail  in  the  Appendix  to 
this  book.  In  the  Appendix  also  will  be  found 
several  other  exercises  for  enlarging  the  chest. 
In  any  hard  athletic  work  it  is  absolutely  nec- 
essary for  the  heart  and  lungs  to  have  plenty 
of  room  to  function  properly. 

Strength  and  toughness  in  the  sense  of  the 
ability  to  stand  tumbles  comes  gradually 
from  the  general  practice,  and  if  it  is  borne 
in  mind  that  men  should  be  advanced  slowly 
(scrimmages  too  near  the  beginning  of  train- 
ing being  productive  of  more  injuries  than  the 
results  warrant),  a  team  will  generally  harden 
up  by  mid-season.  Rapidity  of  thought  is 
aided  by  practice  in  answering  to  quick  com- 
mands. This  may  be  supplemented  in  the 
case  of  the  quarterback  by  asking  quick  re- 
plies to  questions  on  what  kind  of  plays  to  use 
on  the  various  numbers  of  downs.  All-round 
development,  of  course,  is  largely  dependent 
on  the  work  a  man  has  done  through  his  boy- 
hood and  growth,  a  subject  which  is  treated 


TRAINING  FOR  FOOTBALL  131 

at  some  length  in  the  earlier  chapters  of 
this  book. 

So  much  for  the  general  proposition. 
There  is  not  a  man  on  the  team  that  does 
not  need  these  qualities,  but  besides  these  there 
is  the  particular  kind  of  skill  that  each  man 
needs  to  play  his  particular  position.  If 
he  has  developed  the  general  qualities,  the  de- 
tails will  come  easily  to  him  whether  he  be  a 
lineman,  a  back  or  an  end.  These  details  are 
a  matter  of  practice  and  come  to  a  man  as 
the  season  progresses,  if  he  is  properly  trained 
and  has  properly  prepared  himself  for  the 
work. 

The  lineman  needs  solidity  with  suppleness, 
strength  and  endurance,  speed  in  the  sense 
of  quick  action,  tackling  and  blocking.  From 
tackle  to  tackle  the  weight  of  the  team  is  con- 
centrated. It  is  the  weight  of  these  men  that 
gives  them  solidity,  together  with  their  hard- 
ness; but  with  this  solidity  they  must  have 
poise,  ability  to  shift  the  weight  easily  and 
quickly,  good  co-ordination,  alertness.  These 
help  a  man  in  picking  holes  and  breaking 
through  on  the  offense.  They  may  be  devel- 
oped by  the  co-ordinating  exercises  described 


132  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

above,  and  by  the  daily  practice  in  breaking 
through,  charging,  etc.  The  suppling  exer- 
cises are  also  excellent  for  these  men,  as  they 
help  the  twisting  and  turning  of  the  body 
necessary  both  in  defense  and  breaking 
through  and  enable  a  man  to  get  into  all 
kinds  of  awkward  positions  in  scrimmage 
without  getting  hurt.  Suppleness  is  one  of 
the  greatest  defenses  against  injury  for  every 
man  on  the  team.  For  the  lineman  the  duck- 
walk  is  one  of  the  best  of  the  suppling  exer- 
cises. To  do  this,  the  man  should  squat,  bend- 
ing the  knees  but  keeping  the  body  erect, 
then,  in  this  crouching  position  try  to  walk 
forward.  The  result  is  a  sort  of  waddling 
motion  (hence  the  name  of  the  exercise)  which 
increases  the  springiness  of  the  legs,  exercises 
the  sense  of  balance  and  supples  the  whole 
body.  This  should  be  practised  for  four  or 
five  minutes  a  day  and  should  be  included  in 
the  regular  practice. 

Special  instruction  in  blocking  and  tackling 
is  part  of  the  lineman's  daily  work.  For 
the  tackling  a  dummy  of  some  kind  is  used 
in  the  early  part  of  the  season.  This  consists 
of  a  stuffed  bag  hung  from  a  pulley  by  a 


TRAINING  FOR  FOOTBALL  133 

weighted  rope  passing  through  a  pulley. 
Tackling  is  also  practised  by  the  men  tackling 
each  other.  This  should  not  be  done  late  in  the 
season  as  plenty  of  it  comes  from  real  scrim- 
mage. 

Endurance  for  the  lineman  generally  means 
toughness  and  ability  to  stand  hard  knocks. 
This  comes  in  the  scrimmages,  the  tackling, 
blocking,  charging  and  falling  on  the  ball. 

A  back  needs  quick  starting,  dodging,  kick- 
ing, passing,  interfering,  catching  and  tack- 
ling. The  work  of  starting  quickly  is  largely 
a  matter  of  quick  co-ordination,  that  and  the 
ability  to  acquire  pace  easily  may  be  taught 
by  the  track  trainer  with  much  the  same 
methods  as  he  uses  with  his  sprinters.  Dodg- 
ing, while  co-ordination  plays  a  good  part  in 
it,  requires,  besides,  strength  and  suppleness 
of  the  back  and  trunk,  for  a  good  dodger  in 
football  changes  the  actual  direction  of  his 
feet  very  little  but  sways  and  turns  his  body, 
thus  deceiving  his  opponents.  When  a  man 
first  goes  out  for  practice  he  will  find  this 
dodging  difficult  because  the  main  muscles 
of  his  body  are  not  used  to  it  and  are  stiff 
instead  of  supple.  Here  is  a  case  where  a  man 


134  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

can  prepare  himself  for  practice  by  prelimi- 
nary exercise,  thus  overcoming  the  stiffness 
so  that  the  dodging  comes  easier  to  him.  This 
also  helps  him  to  avoid  the  chance  of  muscle 
strain. 

Three  exercises  which  are  particularly  valu- 
able for  the  back  in  football  are  the  "  wave," 
the  "  weave  "  and  the  "  crawl,"  all  described  in 
an  appendix.  These  twist,  turn,  or  bend 
the  upper  part  of  the  body  without  changing 
the  position  of  the  feet  and  thus  supple  the 
dodging  muscles.  A  man  who  has  used  these 
exercises  before  the  practice  begins  will  find 
that  he  feels  very  little  lameness  in  his  body 
muscles  after  the  first  day's  work  on  the  field. 

The  kicking  is  a  matter  of  slow  progress, 
and  the  great  mistake  is  to  have  a  man  kick 
too  hard ;  trying  for  distance  early  in  the  sea- 
son before  his  muscles  are  in  good  shape; 
kicking  too  long  at  a  time  until  the  muscles 
get  tired,  and  overdoing  generally.  The 
"  crouch  "  exercise  will  help  a  man's  kicking 
muscles  to  get  into  shape.  As  to  passing, 
this  is  similar  to  the  baseball  man's  problem, 
and  exercises  for  the  shoulders  are  the  very 
best  that  can  be  taken  for  this  work.  They 


TRAINING  FOR  FOOTBALL  135 

will  prevent  lame  shoulders  in  nine  cases  out 
of  ten.  The  same  exercise  which  is  described 
in  the  chapter  on  baseball,  holding  the  arms 
rigid  and  horizontal  and  moving  them  in  such 
a  way  that  the  hands  describe  circles  about 
twelve  inches  in  diameter,  has  the  effect  of 
suppling  the  shoulder  muscles.  Catching  is 
almost  entirely  a  matter  of  practice,  though 
here  again  the  trunk-bending  exercises  are  of 
some  assistance.  Interfering  is  learned  by  a 
dummy  made  of  a  stuffed  bag  like  the  tack- 
ling dummy,  of  pyramidal  shape  that  will 
stand  up  and  is  about  the  height  of  a  man. 
Players  run  into  this  with  their  shoulders.  It 
should  be  especially  emphasized  that  while 
interfering  they  should  stay  on  their  feet  as 
much  as  possible. 

The  end  needs  speed,  quick  starting,  dodg- 
ing, catching,  tackling  and  interfering.  He 
should  have  extra  work  in  running  down  the 
field  under  kicks,  and  practice  in  quick  start- 
ing from  a  crouching  position,  dodging  men 
as  he  goes  down  and  getting  up  his  pace  gen- 
erally. He  should  work  with  the  backs  in 
practising  passing,  interfering  and  standing 
diunmjr  work. 


CHAPTER  XII 

SPECIALIZED  TRAINING  FOR 
BASEBALL 

WHEN  a  baseball  player  is  incapacitated, 
the  cause  nine  times  out  of  ten  is  a  lame 
shoulder.  A  very  large  proportion  of  these 
"  glass  arms  "  are  acquired  in  practice  before 
the  season  commences,  and  could  easily  have 
been  avoided  by  suitable  preliminary  exercises. 
It  seems  extraordinary  that  so  few  baseball  men 
are  willing  to  go  through  any  form  of  calis- 
thenics to  strengthen  and  put  in  condition 
these  shoulder  muscles,  but  rely  simply  upon 
throwing  or  pitching  to  bring  them  into  shape, 
with  the  result  that  thousands  of  them  meet 
with  strains  which  lessen  their  efficiency 
throughout  the  season,  if  they  do  not  entirely 
prevent  their  playing.  The  muscles  of  the 
shoulder  can  be  made  strong  as  well  as  supple 
with  very  little  work,  spread  over  a  reason- 
able amount  of  time,  previous  to  the  actual 
throwing  or  pitching,  and  if  this  is  done  and 

136 


TRAINING  FOR  BASEBALL  137 

then  a  man  begins  easily  and  comes  gradually 
up  to  the  hard  work,  nine  times  out  of  ten 
he  will  escape  without  any  danger  of  arm 
trouble.  The  best  motions  are  those  wherein 
the  arm  is  held  rigid  and  the  hand  makes  a 
circle,  thus  rotating  the  shoulder  and  gradu- 
ally getting  all  these  muscles  strengthened 
and  suppled.  They  should  be  practised  daily 
throughout  the  winter,  but  if  begun  in  the 
early  spring  can  be  performed  several  times 
a  day.  In  baseball,  as  well  as  in  football, 
men  get  sometimes  what  is  known  as  a 
"  charley-horse,"  which  is  a  strain  of  the 
muscles  of  the  thigh,  and  this  also  can  easily 
be  prevented  by  exercise  previous  to  plung- 
ing into  the  regular  work.  Of  course  if  this 
comes  from  a  bruise  or  blow  it  cannot  be  pre- 
vented. The  best  exercise  for  this  is  what  is 
known  as  the  "  crouch " ;  that  is,  standing 
with  the  feet  about  eighteen  inches  apart  and 
arms  extended  horizontally,  rising  on  the  toes 
and  then  bending  the  knees,  going  down  as  far 
as  possible  and  up  again,  keeping  the  back 
straight. 

It  is  particularly  important  in  batting,  as  in 
all  games  where  a  ball  is  struck  with  a  club 


138  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

or  a  racquet,  that  there  be  a  turn  at  the 
waist  and  hips.  This  is  what  puts  power  into 
the  stroke,  but  when  performed  by  the  arms 
is  slight.  The  same  kind  of  work  that  the 
football  man  does  to  acquire  suppleness  ap- 
plies here,  namely,  torsion  motions  of  the 
trunk.  Instantaneous  photographs  of  the 
long  hitters  show  that  the  batsman  turns  his 
body  almost  squarely  around  at  the  hips  in 
going  through  and  delivering  the  full  force 
of  the  blow.  A  man  who  bats  with  his  arms 
only  will  never  make  a  long  hitter.  And  the 
man  who  is  stiff  and  rigid  seldom  gets  great 
distance  unless  he  meets  a  speedy  pitcher  and 
happens  to  get  the  ball  at  just  the  particular 
moment  for  the  greatest  effect.  A  track 
trainer  should  work  with  the  baseball  men  to 
increase  their  actual  running  speed  and  aid 
them  in  the  direction  of  quick  starting  as 
well.  Of  course  the  position  from  which  the 
baseball  player  starts  is  not  that  of  the 
sprinter.  Particularly  not  when  he  leaves 
the  plate  after  making  his  hit.  When  he  is 
on  base  he  has  to  lead  off  and  consequently 
get  in  a  sprinter's  position,  but  he  can  be  im- 
proved very  much  in  his  straight  running 


TRAINING  FOR  BASEBALL  139 

speed,  and  that  may  make  a  world  of  differ- 
ence in  his  ability  to  score. 

THE  PITCHER 

The  pitcher  is  the  most  highly  specialized 
player  in  baseball.  Batting  and  base-running 
powers  which  might  be  normally  great  are 
sacrificed  to  a  large  extent  for  the  sake  of 
higher  efficiency  in  the  pitching  department. 
He  is  always  under  a  greater  strain  than  any 
other  player.  For  the  development  of  his 
curves,  speed,  control  and  accurate  throwing 
to  bases  no  amount  of  practice  can  be  too 
great.  If  he  is  to  last,  the  most  economic 
use  of  his  arm  is  required,  and  he  must  rely 
even  more  than  the  long-distance  hitter  upon 
the  wise  comprehension  and  utilization  of 
body  dynamics  and  the  proper,  gradual  pre- 
liminary training  of  the  muscles  involved. 
To  get  his  body  into  the  pitch  is  the  reason 
of  the  "  windup,"  which  in  delivering  the  ball 
whirls  it  off  the  hand  with  every  advantage 
taken  of  the  body's  centrifugal  force  and  in- 
volving the  minimum  of  strain  on  the  arm. 
The  "  grasp,"  the  "  weave,"  the  "  crawl  "  and 
"  wave  "  are  most  effective  exercises  for  de- 


140  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

veloping  elasticity  in  the  body  muscles  the 
pitcher  will  be  called  upon  to  use. 

In  training  for  a  position  that  involves  such 
high  specialization  as  pitching,  the  point 
where  the  general  must  be  sacrificed  for  the 
special  varies  with  the  individual.  In  pitch- 
ing, an  excessive  strain  is  put  upon  one  side. 
It  is  thrown  out  of  co-ordination.  The  drop 
and  out  curve  especially  put  the  muscles  of 
wrist,  hand  and  forearm  under  strain  and 
render  impossible,  at  least  for  the  moment, 
the  different  co-ordination  and  the  easy  natural 
grip  essential  to  batting  success.  For  the 
same  reason  a  pitcher  ought  not,  except  in 
great  emergencies,  force  himself  on  the  bases. 
Games  have  been  lost  in  the  inning  after  the 
pitcher  stretched  a  single  into  a  double.  The 
fixed  poise  of  the  pitcher  in  the  box,  his 
mental  preoccupation,  are  incompatible  with 
the  free  and  easy  starting  which  may  be 
taught  the  other  players.  A  pitcher  is  called 
on  for  speed  to  the  limit  of  his  powers  in 
fielding  his  position  or  in  covering  first  when 
the  first  baseman  fields  a  grounder.  In 
throwing  to  first  to  catch  a  runner  napping 
there  is  more  strain  on  the  arm  than  in  de- 


TRAINING  FOR  BASEBALL  141 

livery  and  a  very  different  strain  on  the  foot 
and  leg.  So  with  so  many  strains  on  him  it 
seems  unwise  to  give  the  pitcher  too  much 
batting  or  base-running  practice.  Too  great 
improvement  in  these  departments  will  result 
in  a  slump  in  his  pitching  efficiency.  Those 
exercises  which  tend  to  develop  beyond  the 
general  elastic  needs  of  the  body  muscles  not 
needed  in  his  specialty  or  inharmonious  with 
it  should  be  minimized. 

Good  pitching  is  an  asset  equally  valuable 
with  hitting,  base-running  or  fielding.  Slow 
and  even  development  of  his  powers,  by  care- 
ful preliminary  exercise  alone,  will  give  the 
pitcher  ease  and  confidence  in  that  battle  of 
morale  which  goes  on  between  batter  and 
pitcher  from  the  moment  time  is  called.  By 
that  he  acquires  a  psychological  reserve  to  draw 
upon  when  he  opposes  the  absolutely  certain 
coolness  and  confidence  of  the  superior  batter 
who  expects  to  start  a  batting  rally  inspiring 
his  hitherto  helpless  mates. 

THE  CATCHER 

The  catcher  in  the  demands  made  upon  him 
is  almost  as  highly  specialized  as  the  pitcher. 


142  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

He  is  the  one  whom  all  the  players  face — 
the  keystone  of  the  fielding  game.  Confi- 
dence and  courage  radiate  from  him  when 
cheery  and  sure  to  the  far  corners  of  the  out- 
field. Nothing  so  bolsters  up  a  team  as  the 
sense  of  the  absolute  dependability  of  the 
man  behind  the  bat,  and  the  sanguine  psy- 
chology of  a  catcher  has  stimulated  many  a 
weakening  boxman  to  pull  a  game  out  of  the 
fire. 

The  catcher's  throws  to  second,  while  few 
in  number,  are  long  and  hard.  The  pitcher 
gets  his  exercise  in  the  game  proper.  The 
catcher  and  other  players  must  have  a  cor- 
responding amount  in  practice  if  power  and 
accuracy  are  to  be  in  the  throwing  arm.  The 
catcher's  throw  to  second  is  not  a  full,  natural 
throw  as  when  unhurried,  but  as  quick  and 
hard  as  possible  with  all  the  power  of  body 
and  will  behind  it.  One  of  the  prettiest  and 
uncanniest  plays  in  baseball  is  the  side  whip 
throw  of  the  catcher  to  nail  a  runner  napping 
off  first — a  throw  that  begins  ostensibly  as 
though  he  were  returning  the  ball  to  the 
pitcher.  Seldom  as  it  may  be  called  into  use, 
the  effective  threat  must  be  in  the  catcher's 


TRAINING  FOR  BASEBALL  143 

ami,  and  it  can  only  be  there  through  the 
perfect  co-ordination  of  the  muscles  called 
into  play. 

Everywhere  baseball  calls  for  speed  and 
more  speed,  and  in  no  position  more  than 
when  the  catcher  throws  his  mask  and  turns 
for  a  foul.  He  must  doff  his  mask,  turn, 
start  and  look  virtually  simultaneously,  and 
that  from  a  stance  that  tends  to  be  rigid  for 
quick  starting. 

These  are  the  important  special  functions 
of  the  catcher,  and  he  will  be  compelled  to 
concentrate  on  exercises  that  will  strengthen 
and  develop  them  if  he  is  going  to  give  the 
sense  to  fellow  players  of  being  an  impreg- 
nable tower  of  strength  at  home-plate. 

FIRST  BASEMAN 

The  natural  qualifications  of  the  superior 
first  baseman  are  height,  reach  and  supple- 
ness that  enable  him  to  sway  far  to  either 
side  for  wide  balls  or  to  reach  far  forward 
for  the  short  pick  up  or  backward  to  take  the 
low  thrown  ball  on  the  long  bounce — to  stop 
any  reasonable  or  unreasonable  throw  within 
reach  and  keep  his  foot  anchored  to  the  bag 


144.  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

however  awkward  the  position.  With  the 
catcher  and  third  baseman  he  must  be  able 
to  pick  a  high  foul  off  the  fence,  and  ability 
to  throw  strongly  across  the  diamond  is  oc- 
casionally a  winning  asset. 

SECOND  BASEMAN 

With  both  the  first  and  second  baseman,  if 
their  skill  in  other  respects  is  high,  extraor- 
dinary power  in  throwing  is  not  indispensable. 
Most  of  the  latter's  throws,  except  from 
double  plays,  are  short,  and  many  second 
basemen  jerk  the  ball  to  first  underhand. 
But  whether  under  or  overhand,  it  is  a  quick, 
whippy  throw,  performed  largely  with  the 
arm.  In  fielding  the  deep,  slow  grounder, 
near  the  bag,  and  in  completing  the  double 
play  to  first,  accuracy  and  speed  are  the 
great  considerations. 

SHORT  STOP 

The  short  stop  plays  a  slightly  deeper 
field  than  the  second  baseman,  and  as  the 
distance  to  first  is  considerably  longer,  a 
more  powerful  throw  is  needed.  He  is  also 
called  upon  to  cover  second  on  double  plays 


TRAINING  FOR  BASEBALL  145 

or  to  receive  the  catcher's  throw.  Between 
catcher,  second  baseman  and  short  stop,  takes 
place  most  of  the  fine  team  work  which  gives 
baseball  its  undying  charm.  These  players 
must  work  together  with  the  precision  of  a 
well-oiled  machine,  and  on  both  sides  of  the 
second  bag  tireless  practice  together  is  im- 
perative if  this  result  is  to  be  attained,  and 
it  must  be  attained  if  smooth  and  fast  double 
plays  are  to  be  expected. 

THIRD  BASEMAN 

The  prime  requisite  of  the  third  baseman  is 
a  speedy,  long  and  powerful  throw  to  first. 
The  third  baseman  is  called  upon  to  field 
harder  hit  balls  than  the  other  fielders  and 
that  at  a  shorter  distance  from  the  batter. 
The  majority  of  bunts  also  are  laid  down 
along  his  foul  line.  He  must,  therefore,  be 
practised  in  quick  starting  for  fielding  bunts, 
and  especially  in  picking  up  the  ball  at  full 
speed  and  throwing  in  almost  the  same  mo- 
tion. He  should  have  the  location  of  first 
so  well  in  his  mind  that  he  might  almost 
throw  with  his  eyes  closed. 


146  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

THE  OUTFIELD 

If  fielding  qualities  can  be  sacrificed  to 
secure  batting  power  anywhere  it  is  in  the 
outfield,  but  whether  or  not  an  outfielder  can 
cover  a  great  deal  of  ground,  he  must  be  sure 
on  ground  balls  and  have  a  powerful  throw. 
The  long,  low  throw  of  the  outfielder  to  catch 
a  runner  at  the  plate  is  justly  one  of  the 
most  popular  plays  in  the  game,  and  the  nip- 
ping of  a  runner  at  the  plate  has  meant  the 
winning  of  many  a  close  contest.  It  calls  on 
the  player  for  more  energy  of  the  whole  body 
than  any  other  throw. 

In  general,  baseball  may  call  upon  any 
player  for  a  display  of  acrobatic  ability  of  a 
high  order.  At  any  moment  he  may  be  re- 
quired to  perform  the  unbelievable.  All 
players  must  develop  their  powers  of  reach- 
ing with  one  or  both  hands,  to  get  off  the 
ground  as  far  as  possible  after  a  high  ball, 
to  start  quickly,  to  turn  and  start  as  quickly, 
to  catch  a  ball  from  the  grass-tops  running 
and  reaching  far  forward  or  to  take  a  fly 
while  running  with  the  ball  and  looking  over 


Courtesy  ofS.  P.  Edgtrton. 

SLIDING  TO  THIRD— PREP-SCHOOL  GAME. 


SLIDING  TO  THIRD— COLLEGE  GAME. 


TRAINING  FOR  BASEBALL  147 

the  shoulder.  So  entirely  elastic  must  the 
body  be  for  all  the  varied  strains  it  must 
undergo  that  any  exercise  that  tends  to  mus- 
cle binding  or  to  rigidity  in  any  degree  should 
be  strictly  tabu. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

SPECIALIZED  TRAINING  FOR 
TRACK  ATHLETICS 

IN  a  book  published  a  few  years  ago  in 
England  by  one  of  the  most  competent 
trainers  of  that  country,  the  author  speaks 
of  power,  suppleness  and  poise  as  the  out- 
standing characteristics  of  the  track  athlete. 
It  is  interesting  to  see  that  the  recognition  of 
suppleness  as  an  essential  is  not  a  new  idea. 
Under  these  general  classifications  may  be 
included  the  more  concrete  details  af  stride, 
balance  of  the  body,  use  of  arms  and  shoul- 
ders, use  of  the  main  muscles  of  the  body, 
proper  development  of  the  leg  muscles,  en- 
durance, and  condition  of  the  heart  and  lungs. 
These  are  things  nearly  every  track  man  must 
have  more  or  less  as  a  foundation  for  his 
particular  work  in  whatever  event  he  goes 
in  for. 

In  the  matter  of  stride,  there  is,  of  course, 
a  difference  in  individuals;  some  men  have 

148 


TRAINING  FOR  THE  TRACK         149 

naturally  a  short  stride,  others  a  long  one, 
depending  on  the  length  of  their  legs.  Either 
of  these,  however,  may  be  increased  to  advan- 
tage, and  this  is  often  done  by  an  efficient 
use  of  arms  and  shoulders  to  help  the  driving 
power.  It  is  surprising  how  much  improve- 
ment a  man  will  show  by  a  slight  lengthening 
of  his  stride,  by  using  his  arms  and  shoulders 
to  drive  himself  forward  instead  of  swaying 
from  side  to  side,  and  finally  by  getting  that 
peculiar  poise  of  the  body  which  keeps  him 
well  over  the  driving  power  so  that  he  makes 
every  effort  count. 

The  use  of  the  main  muscles  of  the  body, 
that  is,  the  trunk  and  back  muscles,  is  neces- 
sary in  most  track  events  and  these  may  be 
developed  by  the  exercises  described  in  pre- 
vious chapters  and  also  in  the  Appendix.  The 
"  crawl,"  "  wave,"  and  "  weave  "  are  the  most 
important  of  these;  the  "  grasp  "  and  "  curl " 
are  also  good.  Care  should  be  taken  with 
both  sprinters  and  distance  runners  that  there 
should  be  no  over-development  of  the  leg 
muscles.  It  is  curious  that  cramps  seem  to 
come  more  frequently  to  men  of  big  muscles 
than  to  those  less  developed,  and  over-de- 


150  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

velopment  of  muscle  never  prevents  a  strained 
ligament.  Springiness  is  what  is  needed 
most;  not  mere  muscular  strength.  Endur- 
ance is  most  necessary  for  the  distance  men, 
though  every  track  man  needs  it  to  some 
extent. 

For  the  distance  runner  lightness  is  an  ad- 
vantage, poise  and  the  ability  to  carry  the 
body  well  and  make  the  right  use  of  the 
arms  and  shoulders  in  driving  forward  rather 
than  in  swaying  are  of  great  importance. 
Endurance,  however,  is  the  prime  factor  and 
more  effort  should  be  spent  in  attaining  this 
than  in  anything  else.  A  distance  runner 
should  work  on  this  during  the  winter  by 
constantly  trying  to  improve  the  condition 
of  the  heart  and  lungs  and  to  increase  the 
size  of  the  chest,  for  on  these  things  endur- 
ance depends.  Breathing  exercises,  like  the 
"curl"  (see  Appendix),  outdoor  jogging, 
work  that  opens  up  the  chest  and  gives  the 
heart  a  chance,  all  these  count  radically  in 
favor  of  this  type  of  runner.  This  winter 
work  should  be  watched,  however,  so  that  no 
over-development  of  muscle  results  from  it. 
One  of  the  effects  of  distance  running  is  the 


TRAINING  FOR  THE  TRACK        151 

long-continued  strain  on  the  muscles  of  the 
calf  and  the  ball  of  the  foot,  and  men  that 
are  over-trained  are  likely  to  suffer  from 
muscle  strain. 

The  Marathon  runs,  because  of  the  great 
physical  effort  involved,  are  of  doubtful  value 
as  sport.  Of  course,  at  the  time  of  their 
origin  in  ancient  Greece  they  had  a  real  pur- 
pose: to  develop  runners  for  carrying  mes- 
sages. Nowadays,  however,  no  one  would 
ever  be  called  on  for  any  physical  exertion 
for  which  Marathon  running  could  be 
preparation. 

The  Marathon  race  is  a  test  of  grim  de- 
termination, will  power  and  perseverance.  It 
requires  years  of  slow  and  careful  training 
to  build  up  sufficient  endurance  and  power  to 
finish.  It  is  extremely  foolish  for  young 
boys  to  try  to  compete  in  such  events ;  no  one, 
in  fact,  should  go  in  for  Marathon  running 
in  competition  until  he  has  got  his  full 
growth. 

For  the  sprinter,  of  course,  endurance  is 
less  necessary  than  for  the  distance  runner. 
Sprinters  do  not  drop  out  in  a  hundred-yard 
dash,  yet  there  is  a  large  proportion  of  them 


152  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

that  fail  to  finish  the  hundred  at  the  same 
speed  in  which  they  are  running  at,  say,  fifty 
yards,  so  there  is  a  certain  amount  of  endur- 
ance to  be  developed  even  in  the  sprinter. 
But  the  sprinter's  great  needs  are  strength, 
power,  springiness,  co-ordination,  and,  of 
course,  most  important  of  all,  speed,  espe- 
cially at  the  start.  The  hundred-yard  dash 
is  so  short  and  so  quickly  run  that  every  frac- 
tion of  a  second  must  be  made  to  count  and 
the  start  must  be  perfectly  mastered.  The 
spring,  the  perfect  timing  and  the  quickness 
of  getting  into  the  stride  must  be  practised 
through  the  early  part  of  the  season  until 
they  are  thoroughly  learned  in  every  detail. 
The  start  was  formerly  made  from  the 
standing  position  and  was  continued  so  in 
England  long  after  we,  in  this  country,  had 
adopted  the  crouching  start.  The  English 
have  finally  been  forced  to  come  to  the  new 
method,  though  they  did  it  with  reluctance. 
Now,  however,  there  can  be  no  doubt  in  any- 
one's mind  that  with  the  crouching  start  there 
is  a  tremendous  initial  advantage.  In  the 
first  place,  if  it  is  done  properly  the  body  is  so 
perfectly  poised  that  at  the  pistol  there  is 


t  photograph,  ty  Underwood  and  Underwood. 

START  OF  A  lOO^YARD  DASH. 


2  photograph  copyrighted  by  Underwood  and  Underwood. 

FINISH  OF  A  100- YARD  DASH. 


TRAINING  FOR  THE  TRACK         153 

no  lost  motion.  Secondly,  the  body  is,  so 
to  speak,  "  wound  up,"  in  the  sense  that  a 
spring  is  wound,  so  that  the  recovery  into 
the  running  position  is  a  perfectly  normal 
and  spontaneous  reaction.  Finally,  in  the 
crouching  position  there  is  less  air  resistance, 
which  makes  it  easier  to  overcome  the  natural 
inertia  in  starting.  The  difference  between 
the  crouching  and  the  standing  start  is  the 
difference  between  diving  and  falling  flat 
into  the  water. 

In  order  to  carry  out  the  purposes  of  the 
start  it  is  necessary  to  have  great  suppleness 
and  perfect  co-ordination.  The  suppleness 
makes  it  easy  for  the  runner  to  get  out  of 
the  crouching  position  quickly.  An  excellent 
exercise  to  develop  this  suppleness  is  the 
"  crouch  "  described  in  this  book.  Co-ordina- 
tion is  necessary  because  the  body  must  be 
so  perfectly  poised  that  it  will  neither  jump 
the  pistol  nor  be  behind  it ;  on  the  instantane- 
ous response  of  the  muscles  to  the  mental 
commands  depends  the  success  of  the  start 
more  than  on  any  other  element.  Jumping 
the  pistol  is  the  commonest  fault  of  begin- 
ners; it  comes  always  from  lack  of  co-ordina- 


154  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

tion.  The  mind  is  so  set  on  not  being  behind 
that  it  forgets  the  pistol.  Here  is  where  the 
balance  comes  in.  The  mind  must  be  equally 
poised  between  two  things:  the  spring  of  the 
start  and  the  crack  of  the  pistol,  so  that  when 
one  of  them  occurs  the  other  will  be  simul- 
taneous with  it.  If  the  runner  thinks  so  hard 
of  his  start  that  he  forgets  the  pistol  he  will 
start  before  the  pistol  is  fired,  while  if  he  con- 
centrates on  the  pistol  to  the  exclusion  of 
the  start  he  will  have  to  hesitate  after  the 
crack  long  enough  to  get  his  mind  back.  This 
hesitation,  while  it  lasts  but  a  small  part  of 
a  second,  may  be  sufficient  to  lose  the  race. 

Co-ordination  may  be  learned  by  any  of  the 
exercises  before  described  for  this  purpose, 
but  in  the  case  of  the  start  for  the  sprint  it 
can  only  be  perfected  by  continual  practice. 
In  the  early  part  of  the  season  the  sprinter 
should  devote  a  large  part  of  each  day's  work 
to  trying  starts,  and  he  should  not  stop  work- 
ing at  it  until  he  is  sure  he  has  mastered 
the  co-ordination.  In  starting  practice  the 
sprinter  should  not  run  more  than  from  15 
to  20  yards  and  should  not  stop  suddenly. 
After  the  start  has  been  perfected,  the  runner 


TRAINING  FOR  THE  TRACK         155 

may  learn  to  get  into  his  stride  which  comes 
by  practice  and  learning  individual  differ- 
ences in  regard  to  stride,  and  finally  the  finish 
of  the  race,  which  is  perfected  after  the  runner 
has  gained  strength  from  the  daily  jogging. 
It  is  in  this  last  burst  of  speed  that  strength 
counts  more  than  anything  else.  Muscles 
that  are  not  sufficiently  strong  will  sometimes 
"  tie-up  "  during  this  part  of  the  race  and 
incapacitate  the  sprinter. 

For  the  220,  a  man  needs  these  qualities 
plus  endurance.  Presumably  he  runs  his 
hardest  all  the  way  in  the  220.  Of  course, 
he  does  not  really  run  as  fast  as  he  runs  the 
hundred  though  it  seems  as  fast  to  him.  In 
this  race  the  final  burst  counts  a  little  more 
than  the  start.  The  quarter-mile  is  perhaps 
the  hardest  race  there  is;  it  is  practically  a 
long  sprint.  The  quarter-miler  requires  many 
of  the  qualities  of  the  sprinter,  although  here 
endurance  counts  heavily  and  the  sprint  at 
the  end  is  more  necessary  to  develop  than  a 
perfect  start.  The  conservation  of  strength 
required  for  the  final  spurt  of  this  race  is 
something  which  comes  from  much  training, 
and  the  use  of  all  the  exercises  which  develop 


156  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

the  chest  and  aid  the  functioning  of  the  heart 
and  lungs. 

The  hurdler,  combining,  as  he  must,  the 
abilities  of  sprinter  and  high  jumper,  requires 
a  good  deal  of  work.  Keeping  his  stride  is 
the  most  important  thing  for  him  to  learn, 
and  this  comes  only  after  continued  practice. 
It  is  useless  to  try  to  lay  down  either  the  pre- 
cise point  at  which  the  take-off  for  each  hurdle 
should  be  made,  but  the  number  of  strides 
which  should  be  taken  between  hurdles  has  be- 
come practically  fixed  for  any  man  who  can 
approach  the  present  records.  In  general,  a 
long  stride  is  necessary  for  the  hurdles,  and  for 
this  reason  the  best  hurdlers  are  generally 
men  with  long  legs,  though  this  is  not  an  in- 
variable rule.  Simpson  and  Thompson,  the 
two  great  hurdlers,  are  long-striding,  power- 
ful men. 

The  hurdler  must  guard  against  uneven- 
ness  of  running  between  hurdles,  he  must  cul- 
tivate the  best  form  in  taking  the  hurdles,  and 
he  must  be  careful  not  to  overwork.  This 
last  is  important  because  the  continual  hard 
pounding  on  the  cinder  track  required  in  this 
race  causes  the  kind  of  muscle  strain  described 


TRAINING  FOR  THE  TRACK         157 

in  the  chapter  on  injuries,  the  symptoms  of 
which  are  pain  along  the  shin  bones  and  be- 
tween the  bones  of  the  foot.  The  hurdler 
has  not  the  same  soft,  dug-up  ground  to  come 
down  on  as  the  high  jumper,  and  for  this 
reason  he  should  practise  on  the  grass  when- 
ever this  is  possible  and  work  up  gradually, 
beginning  with  one  or  two  hurdles  and  in- 
creasing the  number. 

The  hurdler  shares  with  the  high- jumper 
the  necessity  of  developing  the  trunk  muscles. 
It  is  with  these  muscles  that  they  both  keep 
their  balance.  The  high  jumper  needs  it  es- 
pecially for  his  turn  in  the  air.  Other  needs 
of  the  high- jumper  are  great  springiness  and 
suppleness  of  the  body.  He  must  have  great 
patience  and  perseverance,  and  faith  in  his 
own  ability.  The  best  build  for  the  high 
jumper  is  tall  and  long-legged,  though,  as  in 
everything  else,  there  have  been  notable  ex- 
ceptions. The  take-off  is  important  for  the 
high  jumper,  also  the  form,  and  these  are 
developed  through  practice.  In  schools  where 
the  coaching  is  not  of  the  best,  boys  often 
learn  improper  form  in  the  high- jump.  Bad 
form  always  comes  easier  to  a  beginner,  but 


158  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

it  is  useless  for  any  real  accomplishment  and 
is  hard  to  get  rid  of,  once  it  is  learned. 

Leg  muscles  developed  by  the  "  crouch  " 
exercise  give  spring  to  the  high- jumper.  This 
exercise  is  also  helpful  in  the  running  broad 
jump;  so  also  are  the  "grasp"  and  "wing." 
The  abdominal  and  stomach  muscles  are  es- 
sential in  the  broad- jump;  much  of  the  force 
which  is  given  to  the  body  in  the  spring  of 
the  jump  comes  from  them  and  they  are  used 
entirely  in  the  recovery  after  the  jump  is 
made,  to  keep  the  balance.  Broad-jumping 
is  mostly  a  matter  of  running  speed  and  spring 
and  the  practice  of  keeping  everlastingly  at  it, 
with  great  perseverance  and  with  that  opti- 
mism which  is  spoken  of  at  the  end  of  this  chap- 
ter. Poise  is  essential  and  strength  is  impor- 
tant. A  special  build  is  less  necessary  than  in 
the  case  of  the  high-jumper  and  the  hurdler. 

The  pole-vault,  while  it  is  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  and  spectacular  of  all  athletic 
events,  is,  perhaps,  the  most  difficult  of  all 
and  requires  a  vast  amount  of  patience 
through  long  periods  of  discouragement.  The 
pole-vaulter  combines  the  qualities  of  the 
jumper  with  those  of  the  gymnast.  .  He  needs 


TRAINING  FOR  THE  TRACK         159 

suppleness,  strength  of  arms  and  hands  and 
strong  trunk  muscles.  The  spectacular  part 
of  the  pole-vault  is  due  to  the  fact  that  the 
vaulter  is  able  to  throw  himself  over  a  bar 
which  is  twice  as  high  as  he  is,  and  to  do 
this  the  main  muscles  of  the  body  must  be 
brought  actively  into  play. 

Form  is  essential  in  pole-vaulting,  down  to 
the  smallest  details,  such  as  sliding  up  the 
left  hand  on  the  pole  to  a  position  just  below 
the  right  hand  as  the  pole  is  slid  into  the 
hole;  not  jumping  in  leaving  the  ground,  etc. 
To  get  the  details  of  form  perfect,  they  should 
all  be  practised  for  a  long  time  at  first  with- 
out trying  to  clear  a  bar.  The  pull  and  the 
turn  of  the  body  cannot  be  learned  without  a 
good  deal  of  preliminary  gymnastic  work,  as 
the  turn  really  consists  of  putting  the  body 
in  the  position  of  what  is  known  in  gymnas- 
tics as  the  "  hand-stand." 

For  the  hammer-throw  the  principal  mus- 
cles used  are  those  of  the  back,  trunk,  legs 
and  shoulders.  Hammer  work  needs  a  man 
of  large  powerful  build,  especially  in  the 
upper  part  of  the  body,  and  is  an  event 
which  requires  strength  rather  than  endur- 


160  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

ance.  All  the  stomach,  chest  and  shoulder 
exercises  are  good  preliminary  training  for 
the  hammer-thrower.  The  shot-put  requires 
much  the  same  qualities,  weight  and  muscular 
strength,  especially  in  the  back  and  shoulders. 
Besides  these  it  needs  strength  of  fingers,  as 
the  shot  should  rest  well  back  on  the  fingers 
before  it  is  put,  and  it  requires  good  finger 
muscles  to  give  it  the  proper  support.  These 
can  be  developed  by  exercises  of  opening  and 
closing  the  fingers. 

There  are  one  or  two  details  about  the 
anatomy  of  track  athletics  which  are  well  to 
remember.  The  leg  is  a  long  lever  which 
drives  the  man  ahead  by  pressure  on  the 
groin,  and  the  strain  of  leg-work  comes  on 
the  stomach,  loins  and  groin.  The  drive 
comes  from  the  front  of  the  thighs,  loin  mus- 
cles and  muscles  of  the  buttocks  and  back  of 
the  leg.  The  arm  swing  taxes  the  upper  part 
of  the  body  and  the  triceps.  The  nerves  are 
the  governors  of  all  the  muscles,  acting  on 
them  much  as  an  electric  current.  The  nerves 
are  connected  with  different  parts  of  the  brain 
in  which  each  of  the  impulses  causing  the  ac- 
tion of  any  muscle  originates. 


TRAINING  FOR  THE  TRACK         161 

Because  of  this  nervous  connection,  thought 
action  is  important  in  training,  and  much  of 
the  success  of  the  best  track  men  has  come 
from  right  thought  about  their  work.  There 
is  an  optimism  which  is  essential  to  any  ath- 
letic work  which  requires  as  much  patience 
as  the  track  and  field  events.  Take,  for  ex- 
ample, the  high-jumper.  If  the  bar  is  placed 
at  6'  3"  when  he  first  goes  out  to  jump,  it 
will  be  impossible  for  him.  This  is  partly 
because  he  has  not  sufficient  confidence.  If, 
however,  it  is  placed  at  5'  3"  and  he  jumps  it 
easily,  he  will  be  quite  sure  of  himself  at  5'  4" 
and  so  on,  constantly  working  up  bit  by  bit, 
each  time  feeling  confidence  in  himself  to  do 
a  little  better  next  time. 

Another  phase  of  mental  attitude  which  is 
important  in  any  competition  in  which  en- 
durance plays  a  part  is  the  realization  of 
your  opponent's  condition.  This  was  one  of 
the  things  which  won  the  war  for  the  Allies. 
Marshal  Foch,  Commander-in-chief  of  the 
Allied  armies,  when  he  got  news  of  the  fatigue 
and  exhaustion  of  the  men,  constantly  dwelt 
on  the  fact  that  conditions  must  be  even 
worse  with  the  Germans.  In  one  of  the  most 


162  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

difficult  Jimes  of  the  war  after  the  big 
German  drive  of  March  21,  1918,  Foch  said 
to  Lloyd  George:  "Frankly,  if  I  had  to 
choose,  I  would  rather  be  in  my  place  than 
in  that  of  the  Germans.'* 

This  is  one  of  the  most  effective  kinds  of 
optimism;  the  confidence  that,  while  you  seem 
to  be  at  the  end  of  your  rope,  the  man  who  is 
competing  with  you  is  probably  just  as  near 
the  end  of  his.  It  gives  new  courage  and 
strength  and  takes  away  the  dead  feeling  of 
hopelessness  which  comes  from  the  apparent 
certainty  of  defeat.  s 

Track  is  one  of  the  best  of  all  athletic 
sports,  both  in  its  development  of  the  men 
who  take  part  in  it  and  in  the  spectacular 
and  beautiful  nature  of  the  events.  There 
is  probably  nothing  in  which  grace  of  body, 
beauty  of  motion,  the  smooth  even  working 
of  powerful  muscles  are  shown  to  such  advan- 
tage as  in  a  track  meet.  There  is  probably 
nothing  which  develops  such  poise  and  sup- 
pleness. Besides  these,  it  has  in  it  the  fas- 
cinating element  of  individual  competition, 
and  the  excitement  of  the  race. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

SPECIALIZED  TRAINING  FOR 
ROWING 

IT  would  probably  surprise  a  good  many; 
people  to  know  that,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
rowing  does  little  to  enlarge  the  chest  or 
expand  the  lungs.  Of  course  the  winter 
work,  the  running,  and  that  sort  of  thing 
helps  the  men  in  this  way,  but,  while  actually 
rowing  in  the  boat,  the  chest  is  contracted 
a  good  deal  of  the  time,  and  while  the  muscles 
of  the  back  and  stomach  are  very  consider- 
ably developed,  the  chest  stays  about  the 
same.  It  is  often  true  that  a  man's  chest 
measurement  does  not  increase  at  all  from 
the  time  he  first  sits  in  the  boat  until, 
four  or  five  months  later,  he  rows  his 
race. 

Yet  it  is  extremely  important  that  a  man 
who  goes  in  for  rowing  should  have  a  large 
chest.  The  heart  increases  in  size  during  the 
season's  work  and  it  cannot  do  its  work 

163 


164  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

properly  in  a  crowded  space.  The  lungs  too 
must  have  room  or  they  will  not  be  able  to 
take  in  the  necessary  amount  of  oxygen  to 
sustain  a  man  through  his  race.  For  this 
reason  care  is  always  taken  to  select  men  who 
have  naturally,  or  have  acquired  through  some 
other  sort  of  work,  a  good  chest  development. 
It  is  criminal  to  allow  a  man  to  row  in  com- 
petition who  has  not  a  sufficiently  expanded 
chest.  Thirty-seven  inches  should  be  the 
minimum  for  a  six-foot  man  who  is  expected  to 
row  a  four-mile  race. 

Of  course  this  cuts  out  a  good  many  men 
who  may  be  otherwise  well  adapted  to  crew 
work,  who  like  it  and  who  have,  perhaps,  set 
their  heart  on  it.  For  these  men  I  should  advise 
steady,  careful  work  at  exercises  which  are 
calculated  to  develop  the  chest  and  expand 
the  lungs.  It  is  amazing  the  results  that  can 
be  obtained  by  regular  daily  calisthenic  work 
if  a  man  concentrates  on  the  proper  exer- 
cises. These  are  the  breathing  exercises,  of 
which  there  is  a  large  variety  ( "  the  curl " 
shown  in  the  back  of  the  book  is  one  of  the 
best  of  these) ;  the  chest  stretching  exercises 
such  as  the  "  grate,"  the  "  grind "  and  the 


TRAINING  FOR  ROWING  165 

"  wing."  If  practised  through  the  winter 
these  exercises  will  often  bring  a  man's  chest 
up  to  the  requirements  by  the  time  the  rowing 
starts  in  the  spring.  Even  for  the  man  whose 
chest  is  naturally  good  these  exercises  if  taken 
through  the  winter  will  be  valuable  supple- 
mentary work. 

Beside  the  chest,  there  are  other  qualities 
the  oarsman  must  possess  to  be  successful. 
He  must  have  a  powerful  back,  good  thighs 
for  his  leg  drive,  and  he  must  not  be  stiff.  A 
stiff  man  in  a  boat  is  usually  a  drag  instead 
of  an  aid.  Suppleness,  so  necessary  in  all 
the  other  sports,  is  important  here  also.  The 
bending  exercises,  stretching  and  torsion  exer- 
cises for  the  muscles  of  the  trunk  are  excel- 
lent for  the  rowing  man.  Examples  of  these 
are  the  "  crawl,"  "  wave,"  "  weave,"  "  grasp," 
"  wing  "  and  "  curl."  Then  he  may  also  de- 
velop the  thighs  by  means  of  the  "  crouch  " 
and  other  exercises  of  a  like  nature.  It  is 
well  to  give  some  attention  to  the  power  of 
the  forearm  in  order  to  increase  the  grip  and 
the  ability  to  handle  the  oar  easily.  The  com- 
pression exercises,  done  with  an  elastic  ball  or 
other  material  which  resists  the  grasp  of  the 


166  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

hand,  are  useful  for  the  grip.  Taking  a  sheet 
of  newspaper  at  one  corner  and,  using  one 
hand  only,  gathering  into  a  ball  in  the  hand 
and  squeezing  it  into  as  small  a  space  as  pos- 
sible, has  been  used  to  some  extent  in  this 
work.  Of  course  the  work  on  the  machines 
will  help  the  grip  considerably.  The  biceps 
is  immaterial  and  will  generally  take  care  of 
itself;  that  is,  it  is  not  necessary  for  an  oars- 
man to  have  particularly  powerful  biceps,  for 
the  average  man  has  enough  strength  there  to 
finish  out  his  stroke,  and  the  greatest  amount 
of  power  is  applied  with  the  arms  acting  as 
steel  rods  and  the  back  and  legs  doing  the 
work.  The  triceps — that  is,  the  muscle  at 
the  back  of  the  arm — comes  in  on  the 
shooting  with  the  hands  out  on  the  recover, 
but  speed  here  is  more  valuable  than 
strength. 

It  is  worth  while  to  repeat  here  what  I  said 
in  a  previous  chapter  about  young  boys  row- 
ing. A  moderate  amount  of  rowing,  if  it  is 
carefully  supervised,  will  do  no  boy  harm,  but 
such  strenuous  work  as  is  required  by  fre- 
quent races,  time  trials  and  long-distance 
work  is  bad  for  the  immature  heart.  Four- 


i  photograph  copyrighted  by  Underwood  and  Under-wood. 

WORK  IN  ROWING  TANK. 


i  a  photograph  by  "  International." 

CREW  ON  THE  WATER. 


TRAINING  FOR  ROWING  167 

mile  races  such  as  are  rowed  by  college  crews 
are  not  for  boys  who  have  not  got  their 
growth,  as  the  consequences  to  the  heart  are 
likely  to  be  serious. 

Training  for  rowing  requires  a  great  deal 
of  hard  work,  both  in  the  spring  and  fall  on 
the  water  with  winter  training  to  build  the 
men  up  and  keep  them  fit  and  work  in  the 
machines.  The  methods  in  use  at  the  present 
day  are  the  results  of  an  evolution  of  more  than 
fifty  years.  It  is  interesting  not  only  to  the 
oarsman,  but  to  every  athlete,  to  go  back  over 
this  ground  and  follow  the  development.  The 
work  in  the  other  more  strenuous  sports,  such 
as  football,  has  gone  through  a  somewhat  simi- 
lar process  in  matters  of  diet,  etc.  The  fol- 
lowing brief  resume  gives  an  idea  of  this 
progress : 

TRAINING  IN  EARLY  DAYS  OF  BOWING 

1858 — The  work  of  the  Harvard  crew  this 
year  consisted  in  walking,  running,  gym- 
nasium work,  tossing  12  Ib.  cannon  ball,  etc. 
Their  diet  was  severe,  no  vegetables  but  rice 
being  allowed,  no  fish,  only  beef,  mutton, 
stale  bread,  oatmeal  gruel,  and  small  quan- 


168  TRAINING  FOR  SPOUTS 

tities  of  milk  and  water.  The  most  trying 
part  of  the  training  was  the  endurance  of 
thirst. 

1864 — Despite  the  discouraging  outlook  at 
the  beginning  of  the  year  the  best  material 
at  Yale  was  picked  out  and  a  green  crew  was 
kept  at  work  and  inspired  the  energy  of 
Bacon.  The  training  they  went  through  was 
tremendous.  It  lasted  in  its  severity  about 
two  months  before  the  race.  They  rose  at 
six,  walked  and  ran  before  breakfast,  on  an 
absolutely  empty  stomach,  between  three  and 
five  miles — running  more  than  one-half  of  the 
distance  and  part  of  that  at  full  speed — and 
often  carried  small  weights  in  their  hands. 
They  rowed  four  miles  at  full  speed  both  in 
the  morning  and  in  the  afternoon.  Their  bill- 
of-fare  consisted  of  beef  and  mutton,  with 
occasional  chicken,  toasted  bread,  boiled  rice 
and  weak  tea.  No  wine  or  beer  and  but  few 
vegetables. 

1866 — The  defeats  of  the  two  previous  years 
caused  the  Harvard  men  to  set  to  work  in 
earnest  this  year.  Beginning  early  in  the 
fall,  they  ran  every  other  day  five  or  six 
miles  at  half  speed.  Their  system  of  diet  be- 


TRAINING  FOR  ROWING  169 

came  more  liberal,  the  motto  now  being 
"  Keep  all  the  flesh  you  can  and  do  the  pre- 
scribed work,"  instead  of  as  formerly,  "  Train 
off  all  the  flesh  you  can."  This  diet  was  kept 
up  to  the  day  of  the  race,  the  result  being  a 
well-trained  crew  in  much  fuller  flesh  than 
usual,  but  with  no  over-trained  men  in  the 
boat.  New  weights  were  used,  gymnastic 
exercise  and  outdoor  walking  and  running 
practised  until  in  the  spring  they  could  row 
on  the  river. 

1872— The  defeat  of  Harvard,  which  so 
stimulated  the  smaller  colleges,  appears  to 
have  taken  away  a  large  amount  of  interest 
in  boating  at  Harvard  itself,  so  that  great 
difficulty  was  experienced  in  getting  a  crew 
together.  An  entirely  new  set  of  men  were 
chosen,  the  old  oars  refusing  to  row.  Despite 
the  fact  that  this  crew  was  given  a  more 
liberal  diet  than  usual,  with  fruits  and  vege- 
tables in  moderation  and  with  occasional 
ale,  they  came  to  the  line  somewhat  over- 
trained. 

1881 — In  the  last  half  mile  both  crews  put  up 
the  stroke,  Yale  doing  44  to  Harvard's  40, 
and  finishing  a  length  and  a  half  ahead.  It 


170  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

was  one  of  the  hardest-fought  races  ever 
rowed  in  America,  in  spite  of  which  both 
crews  came  in  without  any  "  done-up  "  men, 
which  testified  to  faithful  and  skilful  train- 
ing. 

1887 — The  diet  of  the  crew  may  he  given  as 
heing  fairly  representative  of  the  latest  ideas 
in  regard  to  this  branch  of  the  training.  For 
breakfast  and  supper  the  crew  ate  oatmeal, 
beefsteak,  mutton  chops,  eggs,  stewed  or 
baked  potatoes.  For  dinner,  roast  beef, 
mutton,  fricasseed  chicken,  potatoes,  rice, 
macaroni,  tomatoes,  puddings,  and  water- 
cresses  in  season.  The  work  of  the  crew  oc- 
cupied, on  an  average,  three  hours  every  after- 
noon, besides  which  the  men  worked  all  the 
spring  in  pair-oars  during  the  mornings,  as 
their  recitations  would  permit. 

It  must  be  remembered  in  the  case  of  the 
oarsman  that  he  cannot  be  trained  down  to 
the  point  of  extreme  leanness  except  at  great 
risk.  This  is  peculiarly  so  for  a  double  rea- 
son. In  the  first  place  an  oarsman  loses  sev- 
eral pounds  in  a  hard  race,  especially  a  four- 
mile  one,  and,  if  he  has  nothing  to  spare  in 


TRAINING  FOR  ROWING  171 

the  way  of  flesh,  his  endurance  gives  out.  The 
second  reason  is  that  rowing,  unlike  football, 
is  practised  during  a  period  of  the  year  when 
the  weather  is  becoming  warmer  and  may  be 
for  the  last  month  quite  hot.  This  tends  to 
take  weight  off  men,  while  in  football  the 
weather  is  all  on  the  side  of  the  player  as  it  is 
becoming  constantly  cooler  and  more  bracing 
as  the  season  goes  on. 

A  reasonable  surplus  of  weight  should  there- 
fore always  be  kept  in  the  case  of  the  oarsman. 
As  to  his  nervous  energy,  rowing  is  unlike 
many  of  the  other  sports  in  one  respect,  and 
that  is  there  is  no  direct  contact  between  the 
competitors.  There  is  no  physical  meeting  as 
there  is  in  football.  To  many  men  the  high 
tension  of  nervousness  that  prevails  in  a  foot- 
ball team  at  the  moment  of  the  first  kick-off 
is  relieved  almost  immediately  when  the  first 
scrimmage  comes.  The  rowing  man  has  no 
such  physical  contact  with  his  competitors  to 
act  as  a  safety  valve,  although  after  his  first 
few  strokes,  and  when  the  crew  settles  down  to 
steady  rowing,  he  too  feels  something  of  this 
relief.  A  really  phlegmatic  man  in  a  boat  has 
little  nervous  strain,  it  being  largely  physical, 


172  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

but  the  high-strung  oarsman  is  oftentimes  mak- 
ing a  steady  strain  on  his  nervous  energy.  He 
is  keyed  almost  to  the  cracking  point  as  he 
waits  for  the  referee's  word.  Then,  if  the  race 
be  close,  he  senses  that  other  boat  stealing  along 
by  his  side  and  almost  feels  each  beat  of  their 
blades.  So  men  differ  as  to  the  kind  of  prepa- 
ration. The  high-strung  man  must  be  always 
watched  during  training  and  relaxation  fur- 
nished him  at  times  during  the  season.  Espe- 
cially is  this  true  of  a  stroke  oar,  for  upon  his 
stamina  and  nervous  condition  much  depends. 
He  must  have  that  store  of  vitality  that  enables 
him  to  drive  his  crew.  If  he  becomes  lacka- 
daisical the  crew  slumps.  If  he  is  keen  and  con- 
fident the  crew  responds.  The  Harvard- Yale 
race  of  1920  demonstrated  how  much  depended 
upon  perfect  condition  and  reserve  power,  for 
here  a  crew  that  had  been  the  favorites  were 
beaten  and  actually  rowed  down  by  a  crew 
that  had  not  been  so  strongly  fancied  but  who 
betrayed  from  start  to  finish  a  fund  of  vital- 
ity upon  which  they  could  draw  when  needed. 
Another  illustration  of  the  necessary  prepara- 
tion for  a  young  man  stands  out  most  prom- 
inently in  what  is  generally  accepted  as  the 


TRAINING  FOR  ROWING  173 

explanation  for  the  success  of  English  coached 
crews  over  there  and  the  failure  of  some  of 
the  English  coaches  who  have  been  over  here 
to  perform  the  same  work  with  a  crew  of 
American  boys.  In  fact,  those  English 
coaches  who  have  been  successful  with  Ameri- 
can crews  have  usually  modified  somewhat  the 
body  swing  after  experience  with  an  Ameri- 
can crew.  The  explanation  referred  to  above 
lies  in  the  statement  that  the  British  univer- 
sities get  their  men  from  the  rowing  schools 
like  Eton,  and  these  boys  have  been  brought 
up  on  the  pronounced  body  swing  of  English 
rowing  from  their  early  schooldays.  Hence, 
the  muscles  of  the  body,  particularly  those  of 
the  abdomen,  are  better  developed  to  stand 
this  strain.  Now,  if  this  be  true,  then  it  would 
be  quite  possible  by  other  exercises  of  a  special 
nature  to  prepare  a  crew  in  a  year  or  two  to 
stand  this  work.  In  fact,  it  is  well  known  that 
very  little  attempt  has  been  made  to  directly 
develop  by  special  exercises  the  young  man 
of  this  counry.  Instead  of  making  use  of  these 
we  select  our  rowing  men  from  the  group 
that  is  most  likely  to  have  such  qualities,  and 
then  do  nothing  with  them  to  further  develop 


174  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

the  special  muscles  needed.  That  probably 
explains  why  we  have  occasional  men  giving 
out  in  a  race  and  other  men  showing  effects 
that  preclude  their  continuing  in  the  boat. 


APPENDIX 

The  exercises  which  I  am  here  appending  have  been 
referred  to  a  number  of  times  in  the  course  of  this  book 
and  have  been  advocated  as  profitable  adjuncts  to  train- 
ing for  all  of  the  sports.  The  Daily  Dozen  were  origi- 
nally designed  as  a  method  of  good,  rapid,  all-round 
conditioning  of  naval  recruits  for  the  hard  work  ahead 
of  them.  They  were  used  instead  of  the  Swedish  and 
other  methods  which  had  formerly  been  tried  out 
because  they  were  less  fatiguing  and  tended  to  develop 
the  main  muscles  of  the  body  instead  of  concentrating 
on  the  arms  and  legs.  I  am  giving  them  here  in  the  form 
in  which  they  were  given  at  the  naval  training  stations 
during  the  war.  This  form  presupposes  the  presence 
of  a  leader  whose  movements  are  followed  by  a  class. 
Such  classes  have  been  organized  in  schools  and  colleges 
and  have  proved  very  useful,  but  the  exercises  can  eas- 
ily be  done  individually  in  one's  bedroom  or  other  con- 
venient place  by  simply  following  the  directions,  as- 
sisted by  the  cuts. 


THE  DAILY  DOZEN  SET-UP 

The  Daily  Dozen  Set-Up  consists  of  twelve  exercises 
which,  for  ease  in  memorizing,  are  divided  into 
four  groups  of  three  exercises  each.  Each  exercise 

175 


170  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

or  movement  is  given  a  name,  and  the  names  of  all 
the  movements  of  a  group  commence  with  the  same 
letter,  thus: 


I 

II 

m 

IV 

1.  HANDS 
2.  HIPS 
3.  HEAD 

1.  GRIND 
2.  GRATE 
3.  GRASP 

1.  CRAWL 
2.  CURL 
3.  CROUCH 

1.  WAVE 

2.  WEAVE 
3.  WING 

These  exercises  are  not  difficult  or  exhausting,  and 
do  not  demand  great  strength  for  proper  execution, 
but  they  are  designed,  both  from  a  scientific  and  a 
practical  point  of  view,  to  give  exactly  the  right  amount 
of  exercise  to  every  muscle  of  the  body.  They  are 
intended  to  promote  suppleness  and  especially  to 
strengthen  those  muscles  which  are  seldom  brought 
into  play  in  ordinary  daily  life.  A  conscientious  fif- 
teen minutes  a  day  with  the  DAILY  DOZEN  SET-UP 
will  soon  do  more  for  a  man  than  any  amount  of  skil- 
ful physical  feats  or  "strong-man  stunts."  When 
one  first  practises  these  movements,  their  effect  will 
be  felt  on  the  little-used  muscles  of  the  neck,  back, 
and  stomach;  yet  they  will  not  leave  the  pronounced 
muscular  fatigue  which  follows  the  ordinary  exercises, 
and  which  is  of  more  harm  than  good. 

Any  setting-up  exercises  should  be  preparatory;  that 
is,  make  men  ready  for  the  serious  work  of  their  day,  and 
in  no  way  exhaust  any  portion  of  their  vitality.  This 
modern  "short-hand"  method  of  setting-up  leaves  men  in 
an  exhilarated  condition,  and,  instead  of  taking  any- 
thing out  of  them,  prepares  the  body  for  any  kind  of  work 
that  is  required. 


APPENDIX  177 

Each  exercise  starts  from  the  position  of  Attention: 

1.  Heels  on  the  same  line,  and  as  near  each  other  as 

the,  conformation  of  the  man  permits. 

2.  Feet  turned  out  equally  and  forming  with  each 

other  an  angle  of  about  60  degrees. 

3.  Knees  straight  without  stiffness. 

4.  Body  erect  on  hips,  inclined  a  little  forward;  shoul- 

ders square  and  falling  equally. 

5.  Arms  and  hands  hanging  naturally,  backs  of  the 

hands  outward;  thumbs  along  the  seams  of 
the  trousers;  elbows  near  the  body. 

6.  Head  erect  and  straight  to  the  front,  chin  slightly 

drawn  in  without  constraint,  eyes  straight  to 
the  front.  See  Figure  1. 

The  Leader  takes  a  position  facing  the  men,  who 
should  be  so  placed  as  to  give  ample  roomtffor  unham- 
pered movement. 

Each  movement  should  be  executed  in  time  with 
the  orders  or  counting  of  the  Leader  which  should, 
with  the  exception  of  the  Speed  Test,  which  is  a  catch 
exercise,  be  slow  and  measured.  These  exercises  do 
not  depend  upon  snap  for  their  effect  upon  steady, 
deliberate  strain  of  the  muscles.  Any  tendency  toward 
hurried,  careless  execution  should  be  immediately 
discouraged  by  the  Leader  who  should,  at  all  times, 
insist  upon  uniformity  of  movement. 

In  the  following  instruction,  the  preparatory  com- 
mands are  in  capitals,  thus:  ORDER.  The  commands 
of  execution  are  in  italics,  thus:  Hands.  Explanation 
of  each  movement  is  given  in  parentheses. 


178 


TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 


GROUP  I 


HANDS:  READY:  cross. 


ORDER:  hands. 


ORDER:  rest. 


1.  HANDS 

(At  cross,  arms  are  extended 
laterally  and  horizontally, 
palms  down.  See  Figure 

2.) 

(At  hands,  the  arms  are 
brought  back  to  a  position 
of  Attention  close  to  the 
sides.  See  Figure  1.  Espe- 
cial care  should  be  taken  to 
see  that  whenever,  through- 
out the  exercises,  this  posi- 
tion is  taken — as  at  the 
completion  of  each  exercise 
— -full  control  is  retained 
over  the  arms,  and  the  hands 
should  not  be  allowed  to  slap 
against  the  sides  audibly.) 

(At  rest,  always  return  to  a 
position  of  Attention.  In 
this  case  there  would  be  no 
change.) 


HIPS:  READY:  cross. 
ORDER:  hips. 


ORDER:  rest. 


2.  HIPS 

(At  hips,  the  hands  are  placed 
on  the  hips  with  shoulders, 
elbows,  and  thumbs  well 
back.  See  Figure  3.) 


7.  Grasp. 


8.  Crs 
(upright  position) 


9.  Crawl 
(crawl  position) 


10.  Curl 
(curl  position). 

THE  DAILY 


16.  Weave  (combination 
turn  and  bend). 

DOZEN  SET-UP. 


17.  Wing 
(stretch  position). 


18.  Wine 
(wing  position). 


APPENDIX  179 

3.  HEAD 
HEAD:  READY:  cross. 

ORDER:  head.  (At  head,  the  hands  are 
placed  behind  the  neck,  in- 
dex-finger-tips just  touch- 
ing, and  elbows  forced 
back.  See  Figure  4.) 
ORDER:  rest. 

The  above  exercises  should  be  executed  but  a  few 
times  each,  being  preparatory  to  the  Speed  Test. 

SPEED  TEST 

In  this,  the  preparatory  command,  ORDER,  is  omitted 
and  the  Leader  gives  the  commands,  Head,  hips,  hands, 
etc.,  in  sharp  succession,  varying  them,  and  occasionally 
repeating  a  command  in  a  manner  calculated  to  catch 
the  unwary  napping. 

SPEED  TEST* 

SPEED,  TEST,  OMITTING  THE  WORD  "OR&ER":  hands, 
hips,  head,  etc. 
ORDER:  rest. 

The  length  of  time  devoted  to  this  movement  is 
left  to  the  discretion  of  the  Leader. 

GROUP  II 

1.  GRIND 
GRIND:  READY:  cross. 

PALMS:    turn.         (At    turn,    the    palms    are 
turned  up  with  backs  of 
*  This  should  be  performed  with  snap  nod  speed. 


180  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

hands  down  and  arms 
forced  back  as  far  as  pos- 
sible. See  Figure  5.) 

ORDER:  grind.        (At  grind,  and  in  time  with 
one  the    Leader's    measured 

two  counting,  circles  of  twelve 

three  inches  diameter  are  de- 

four  scribed  with   the  finger- 

five  tips  which  move  forward 

to  and      downward,      then 

ten.  backward    and    upward, 

the  arms  remaining  stiff, 

and  pivoting  from  the 
shoulders.  On  the  back- 
ward movement  of  the 
circle,  the  arms  should  be 
forced  back  to  the  limit. 
A  complete  circle  should 
be  described  at  each 
count.) 

Reverse.     (At  reverse,  the  same  process 
one  should  be  gone  through, 

to  the  circle  being  described 

ten  in  the  opposite  direction.) 

*  ORDER:  rest. 

Ten  circles  are  described  in  each  direction. 

2.  GRATE 

GRATE:  READY:  cross. 

ORDER  :  grate.         (At  grate,  and  as  the  Leader 
one  counts  one,  the  arms  are 


APPENDIX  181 

two.  slowly  raised,  as  a  deep 

inhalation  is  taken,  to  an 

angle  of  45  degrees  from 
horizontal,  and  at  the 
same  time  the  heels  are 
raised  till  the  weight  of 
the  body  rests  on  the 
balls  of  the  feet.  See 
Figure  6.  At  two,  the 
arms  are  returned  to  cross, 
as  all  air  is  exhaled,  and 
the  heels  are  lowered  to  a 
normal  position.  Care 
should  be  taken  to  see 
that  the  arms  are  not  al- 
lowed to  drop  below  the 
level  of  the  shoulders  or 
rise  more  than  45  de- 
grees.) 
ORDER:  rest. 

The  arms  should  be  raised  and  lowered  ten  times. 

3.  GRASP 

GRASP:  READY:  cross. 

ORDER:  grasp.  (At  grasp,  the  position  head, 

one  is  taken.     See  Figure  4. 

two  With  head  up  and  eyes 

three  front,  and  in  time  with 

four  the    Leader's    counting, 

- —  one,  two,  three,  four,  the 

one  body  is  bent  forward  from 


182  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

two  the  waist,  as  far  as  pos- 

three  sible.    See  Figure  7.    The 

four  body  is  returned  to  up- 

right in  the  same  number 
one  of  counts  and  at  an  un- 

two  usually  slow  one  is  bent  as 

far  back  as  possible  from 
the  waist,  being  returned 
to  upright  at  two.  Care 
should  be  taken  to  see 
that  this  motion  is  sus- 
tained and  not  jerky.) 
ORDER:  rest. 

The  entire  movement  should  be  repeated  five  times. 

GROUP  III 

1.  CRAWL 

CRAWL:  READY:  cross.  (At  crawl,  the  left  palm  is 
ORDER:  crawl.  turned  up  and  as  the 
one  Leader  counts  one,  two, 

two  three,  four,  the  left  arm  is 

three  raised  and  the  right  arm 

four  lowered  laterally  until  at 

four  the  right  arm  should 
one  be  in  a  position  of  hands, 

two  and  the  left  arm  should 

three  be  extended  straight  up 

four  with  the  palm  to  the 

right.       See    Figure    8. 

Then,     as    the    Leader 


APPENDIX  183 

counts  one,  two,  three,  the 
body  is  slowly  bent  side- 
wise  from  the  waist,  the 
right  hand  slipping  down 
the  right  leg  to  or  beyond 
the  knee  and  the  left  arm 
bending  in  a  half  circle 
over  the  head  until  the 
fingers  touch  the  right 
ear.  See  Figure  9.  At 
four  the  position  of  cross 
is  quickly  resumed,  and 
as  the  Leader  commences 
to  count  again,  the  RIGHT 
palm  is  turned  up  and  the 
exercise  completed  in  the 
opposite  direction.) 
ORDER:  rest. 

\ 

The  entire  movement  should  be  repeated  five  times. 

2.  CURL 

CURL:       READY:  cross.        (In  this  movement,  at  cross, 

the  feet  are  spread  until 
the  heels  are  about 
twelve  inches  apart.  The 
left  foot  remains  station- 
ary, the  right  foot  being 
moved  to  accomplish 
this.) 

ORDER:  curl.         (At  curl,  and  as  the  Leader 
one  counts    one,    two,    three, 


184  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 


two  four,  the  fists  and  lower 

three  arms  are  bent  DOWN  from 

four  the    elbows    which    are 

kept  pressed  back,  and 
one  the  fists  are  curled  into 

two  the  arm  pits.    This  posi- 

three  tion  should  be  reached  at 

four  three,  when  the  head  and 

SHOULDERS     should     be 
one  forced  back  very  strong- 

two  ly;  reaching  the  limit  of 

three  motion  aifour.    See  Fig- 

four  ure     10.      The    Leader 

again    counts    one,    two, 

three,  four.  At  one  the 
arms  are  extended 
straight  forward  from  the 
shoulders,  palms  down. 
See  Figure  11.  At  two 
the  arms  begin  to  fall  and 
the  body  bends  forward 
from  the  waist,  head  up 
and  eyes  front,  until,  at 
four,  the  body  has 
reached  the  limit  of  mo- 
tion and  the  arms  have 
passed  the  sides  and  have 
been  forced  back  and  (as 
the  trunk  assumes  a  hori- 
zontal position)  up  as  far 
as  possible.  See  Figure 
18.  (Note  that  in  this 


APPENDIX  185 

Figure  feet  are  together, 
which  is  incorrect,  for 
this  exercise.)  This  is 
the  icing  position.  For 
a  third  time,  the  Leader 
counts  one,  two,  three, 
four,  as  the  body  is 
straightened,  reaching  an 
upright  position  with 
arms  straight  forward  at 
three.  Cross  is  resumed 
at/owr.  As  the  body  is 
straightened  from  the 
wing  position,  a  full 
breath  should  be  taken, 
the  lungs  being  filled  to 
the  maximum  as  cross  is 
resumed  at  the  comple- 
tion of  the  movement. 
This  breath  should  be  re- 
tained during  the  curl 
movement,  and  exhaled 
as  the  wing  position  is 
taken.  Inhale  through 
the  nose.) 
ORDER:  rest. 

The  entire  movement  should  be  repeated  five  times. 

3.  CROUCH 

CROUCH  :  READY  :  cross.       (In  this  movement,  at  cross, 

the  feet  are  spread  until 


186 


TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 


ORDER:  crouch, 
one 

two 


ORDER:  rest. 


the  heels  are  about 
twelve  inches  apart.  The 
left  foot  remains  station- 
ary, the  right  foot  being 
moved  to  accomplish 
this.) 

(At  crouch,  the  knees  are 
bent  and,  with  the  weight 
on  the  toes,  the  body  is 
lowered  nearly  to  the 
heels,  keeping  the  trunk 
as  nearly  erect  as  pos- 
sible. See  Figure  12. 
This  is  done  at  one  and  at 
two  the  upright  position 
is  resumed.) 


The  entire  movement  should  be  repeated  ten  times. 


GROUP  IV 


1.  WAVB 


WAVE:    READY:  cross. 
ORDER:  wave, 
one 
two 
three 
four 


(At  wave,  the  arms  are 
stretched  straight  above 
the  head,  fingers  inter- 
laced and  arms  touching 
the  ears.  See  Figure  13. 
Then,  as  the  Leader 
counts  one,  two,  three, 
four,  a  complete  circle,  of 


APPENDIX 


187 


about  twenty-four  inches 
diameter,  is  described 
with  the  hands,  the  body 
bending  only  at  the 
waist.  The  trunk  should 
be  bent  as  far  backward 
as  forward,  and  as  far  to 
one  side  as  to  the  other. 
The  body  should  be  for- 
ward at  one,  to  the  right 
at  two,  backward  at  three, 
and  to  the  left  at  four. 
The  motion  should  be 
steady  and  not  in  jerks.) 
Reverse.  (At  reverse,  the  same  move- 
one  ment  should  be  repeated 
etc.  in  the  opposite  direction, 

i.  e.,  to  the  left.) 

ORDER:  rest.  (At     ORDER,     the     body 

should  be  brought  to  an 
erect  position,  stretching 
the  arms  up  as  far  as  pos- 
sible; and  at  rest,  the 
arms  should  drop  slowly, 
laterally,  to  a  hands  posi- 
tion.) 

Five  circles  should  be  described  in  each  direction. 

2.  WEAVE 

WEAVE  :  READY  :  cross.         (In  this  movement,  at  cross, 

the  feet  are  spread  until 


188  TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 

the  heels  are  about 
twelve  inches  apart. 
The  left  foot  remains 
stationary,  the  right  foot 
being  moved  to  accom- 
plish this.) 

ORDER:  weave  (At  weave,  and  as  the  Lead- 
one  er  counts  one,  two,  three, 
two  four,  the  body  is  turned 
three  to  the  left  from  the  hips, 
four  the  arms  maintaining  the 
same  relation  to  the 
one  shoulders  as  at  cross,  un- 
two  til  at  one,  the  face  is  to 
three  the  left,  the  right  arm 
four  pointing  straight  forward 

(in  relation  to  the  feet) 

and  the  left  arm  straight 
backward.  See  Figure 
14.  At  two,  the  body  is 
bent  from  the  waist  so 
that  the  right  arm  goes 
down  and  the  left  up,  un- 
til, at  three,  the  fingers  of 
the  right  hand  touch  the 
ground  midway  between 
the  feet.  The  left  arm 
should  then  be  pointing 
straight  up,  with  the  face 
still  to  the  left.  The 
right  knee  must  be  slight- 
ly bent  to  accomplish 


APPENDIX  189 

this  position.  See  Figure 
15.  At  Jour,  the  position 
of  cross  is  resumed  and  as 
the  Leader  again  counts 
one,  two,  three,  four,  the 
same  movement  is  re- 
peated with  the  left  hand 
touching  the  ground  this 
time.  Throughout  the 
exercise,  care  should  be 
taken  that  the  arms  re- 
main in  the  same  straight 
line,  making  no  separate 
movement,  but  changing 
their  position  only  as  the 
trunk  and  shoulders  are 
moved  and  carry  the 
arms  along.  After  this 
exercise  has  been  thor- 
oughly mastered,  the 
turning  and  bending 
movements  made  on  the 
counts,  one  and  two, 
should  be  combined,  i.  e., 
instead  of  making  the  en- 
tire turn,  as  described 
above,  before  bending, 
turn  and  bend  simultan- 
eously. See  Figure  16.) 
ORDER:  rest. 

The  entire  movement  should  be  repeated  ten  times. 


190 


TRAINING  FOR  SPORTS 


3.  WING 


WING:     READY:  cross. 
ORDER:  wing, 
one 
two 
three 
four 

one 
two 
three 
Jour 


(At  wing,  and  as  the  Leader 
counts  one,  two,  three, 
four,  the  arms  are  raised 
laterally  until  they  are 
extended  straight  up- 
ward at  one.  See  Figure 
17.  At  two,  the  arms  be- 
gin to  fall  forward  and 
downward  and  the  body 
bends  forward  from  the 
waist,  head  up  and  eyes 
front,  until  at  four,  the 
body  has  reached  the 
limit  of  motion  and  the 
arms  have  passed  the 
sides  and  have  been 
forced  back  and  (as  the 
trunk  assumes  a  horizon- 
tal position)  up  as  far  as 
possible.  See  Figure  18. 
As  the  Leader  again 
counts  one,  two,  three, 
four,  the  body  is  straight- 
ened, reaching  an  upright 
position,  with  arms  ver- 
tically extended,  at  three. 
At  four,  the  arms  are  low- 
ered to  a  cross  position 
but  with  palms  up  and 


APPENDIX  191 

arms  and  shoulders 
forced  hard  back.  Very 
slow  counting  is  essential 
to  the  correct  execution 
of  this  exercise.  All  air 
should  be  forced  from  the 
lungs  as  the  body  bends 
forward  to  the  wing  posi- 
tion, and  they  should  be 
filled  to  capacity  as  the 
body  is  straightened  and 
the  arms  brought  down. 
Inhale  through  the  nose.) 
ORDER:  rest. 

The  entire  movement  should  be  repeated  five  times. 


CENTRAL  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 

University  of  California,  San  Diego 


DATE  DUE 


SEP  19  1987 


a  39 


UCSD  Libr. 


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